Thursday, June 7, 2007

Pound Weaker Against Major Currencies, Thursday, June 07, 2007 2:17:56 PM

The pound fell versus each of its major counterparts Thursday in New York. The retreat came amid the Bank of England`s announcement that interest rates will stay put at 5.5%, as had been expected. The pound fell to its lowest mark in over two weeks against the yen. Meanwhile, the sterling slipped to weekly lows versus the dollar and euro.

The sterling declined to its lowest mark since Friday against the euro on Thursday in New York. The British currency initiated its decline at 7 am ET with the announcement of the Bank of England rate decision. The pound slipped through the mid-morning before leveling off around 10 am. At 2 pm, the sterling traded at a mark of 0.6792. This is compared to an intraday low of 0.6798 at 10 am and an intraday high of 0.6769 at 3:20 am.

The pound fell to its lowest point in a week against the dollar on Thursday in New York. The sterling began to slide steadily just after 6 am ET, ahead of the Bank of England`s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. Falling into the early afternoon, the pound fetched a mark of 1.9764 at 1:55 pm. This is compared to an intraday high of 1.9941 at 2:30 am. Greenback traders looked forward to the announcement of the American trade balance on Friday.

Versus the yen, the pound dropped to its lowest point in over two weeks Thursday in New York. The sterling began to tumble during the early morning and early afternoon before leveling off just before 1 pm. At 2 pm ET, the British currency traded at a mark of 239.24, up from an intraday low of 2.3891 at 12:50 pm. This is compared to an intraday high of 242.09 at 3:10 am. There was no major economic data released in Japan Thursday, but traders looked ahead to Friday`s release of the May Eco-watchers survey.

The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at a six-year high on Thursday. In May, the Bank of England hiked the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.50%, which was the fourth rate increase since August 2006. The latest inflation report from the Monetary Policy Committee hinted at a further rise in the Bank Rate. The report showed that the MPC expects the CPI inflation to fall back to and a little below the 2% target over the next six-to-twelve months.
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