Pound Climbs On Asset-Purchase Program Speculations
The pound gained today after hitting several record lows this week specially versus the euro, as speculations indicate that the current central bank asset-purchase program may be suspended, finally providing support for the British currency to gain in foreign-exchange markets.
After speculations suggested that the Bank of England is likely to interrupt its asset purchase program due to undisclosed reasons in an interview given by BOE Markets Director Paul Fisher to the Financial Times, the pound witnessed its sharpest gains in October, specially versus the greenback and the yen, but also the euro and a basket of emergent-market currencies. Mixed sentiment towards the U.S. economy made the dollar to erase early gains versus several currencies, including the British pound, which crossed the $1.60 line this Thursday, after several sessions losing in currency markets.
Most of analysts and traders were expecting the BOE’s asset-purchase program to be extended as the economy in the British Isles remains in a rather delicate situation, specially in the financial sector, receiving Fisher’s comments as a surprise that provide support for the pound to climb to more optimistic levels, as the quantitative easing measures taken by the Bank of England were one of the biggest responsible for the pound’s devaluation.
GBP/USD traded at 1.6262 as of 18:34 GMT from a previous rate of 1.5963 yesterday. EUR/GBP traded at 0.9173 from 0.9325.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Great Britain Pound, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.
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Earlier News About the Great Britain Pound:
- Bank of England Speculations Set Pound Down (2009-10-13)
- Pound Declines Further on U.K. Economic Forecast (2009-10-12)
- Record Low Manufacturing Pushes Pound Down (2009-10-06)
- Pounds Ends Another Week Down on Crisis Concerns (2009-10-02)
- Pound Rises on IMF U.K. Outlook (2009-10-01)
25 Comments
I moved to Canada in January 2008. After predicting the rise & falls in the stock & housing markets over the last ten years or so to a tee, I stumbled regarding my prediction of the CAD. I wish I had exchanged at $2.00 or so. I thought it would have gone back up to at least $2.20 to GBP. My concern now is that I have purchased a home here finally in August. My exchange is on the 30th of this month. I hold a sterling account here still. Do you think the GBP will gain a lot more strenght by say the 25th October? Or what do you think a good exchange rate will be in this short period to obtain? I will be converting around 200K sterling.
I believe that the GPB/CAD will remain somewhat flat for the rest of the month, fluctuating between 1.60 and 1.73.
Thanks……but I think it will be higher now the Canadian interest base rate is frozen this time round. Hope to hit 1.77 at least.
It is not impossible that it will hit 1.77, yet, the trend is rather negative for the pound. Now it will depend mostly on how much the Bank of Canada will intervene on its currency fluctuations.
I don’t think so. It’s easy to play safe & look good by giving figures close to what the pound was at the time of my post. I’ve gone against all forecasts in the UK over the last 15 years or so & done very well. If I got a constructive reply for my request, I would have considered it more seriously rather than a cyrstal ball prediction. The recent announcements from the Canadian bank (yesterday) & the news from the meeting of the BOE for whats to come in November, you can see it has pushed sterling up. 1.75 almost. Okay it could have gone the other way depending on what the banks would have said. But the Canadians were crying out for the looney to drop because of what it was doing to their exports. In the long run it could follow a downward trend, but by the time of the Olympics it should be well over 2.00 again. So you can see it wasn’t only how the BOC intervened, it was aslo dependent on the BOE actions.
Absolutely, but the BOC is interested in having a weaker loonie – as you have said and everybody knows, as for the BOE, they are entirely concerned in providing support for the national economy to emerge from the current crisis, even tolerating/welcoming to a certain extent lower levels for the pound to stimulate exports – while the BOC is forcing it.
Very true indeed. It will be like “rolling the dice” for me this week! Who knows were every will stand in a few years on both sides of the pond?
Yes, time brings all the answers, Nevertheless, the U.K. is still facing a complicated domestic situation, a part from that other currencies like the Australian dollar, some also from emergent markets, and of course the Canadian dollar are much more attractive due to their resilience than the pound itself, now the GDP figures once again brought the bad news, in my personal view if one can be away from any pound priced assets for the moment, that would be for his own good. About the CAD im curious to see what measures they will take to halt its rally, so far just statements, but i think more will be necessary.
should be everyone whoops.
I couldn’t agree more with you. The Canadians tend to be like that. The American election seemed to be covered more here than their election. Apparently, it was a great day for North America they said. When Americans do something the world doesn’t like, they become fully independent Canada again! Now how do you trust a government like that? They did very well keeping away from subprime though. Only the two most corrupt leaders in the world benefited from that one. Thatcher, business minded as she was too, at least gave something back to the UK. Blair just ran it into the ground while acting as Bush’s lap dog.
Wow…..were did that come from?
Got my 1.77 rate as predicted last week. Looks like it will float around the 1.76 to 1.77 rate for a while. I think I may have to take a different direction in my career. Don’t know why I always go asking when I normally get it right myself! I must believe in myself more!
I will wait now over a longer term before I start bringing in the money that will really help my retirement here. No rush what so ever. Just clever timing again.
The table speaks for itself.
Conversion Table: GBP to CAD (Interbank rate)
Time period: 11/3/09 to 11/25/09.
Daily averages: 11/03/2009 1.77210
11/04/2009 1.76220
11/05/2009 1.75510
11/06/2009 1.7620
11/07/2009 1.77230
11/08/2009 1.78780
11/09/2009 1.78820
11/10/2009 1.78140
11/11/2009 1.76520
11/12/2009 1.74750
11/13/2009 1.73620
11/14/2009 1.75240
11/15/2009 1.7550
11/16/2009 1.75560
11/17/2009 1.75440
11/18/2009 1.76950
11/19/2009 1.76570
11/20/2009 1.76880
11/21/2009 1.76890
11/22/2009 1.76930
11/23/2009 1.76930
11/24/2009 1.75930
11/25/2009 1.75550
Average (23 days): 1.76407
High: 1.78820
Low: 1.73620
No software……no advice……..just my intuition.
Good job, where do you think it will go now?
Slowly down. What I mean by that the average will fall for another two years at least. Don’t forget you have a glorified accountant running the country too who is trying to juggle figures around to get results. I admit it’s not all his fault as Blair has left him a huge mess to deal with, but can he really get the country back on its feet by playing a numbers game? Greed a playing a big factor in all major economies around the world where 1st world countries recruit 3rd world employees supposedly who can do the job just as well which leads to fall in salaries for skilled & semi-skilled trades. The only winners are the people at the very top & the economy suffers since most send money back home & exploit the system here as much as they can. It’s not like when we came over from the commonwealth countries in the 60′s when worked very hard to get where we are today. The new generations are not as hard workers & want success overnight. They don’t want to slug it out making employers look further afield to find cheap hard working staff. You may say why am I dwelling on this subject as other factors are involved in the country’s economy, yes I agree & I’m not an economist however you only need to see how many Brits, like me, professionals in our field of work, leave because of salaries being driven down & the amount of eastern Europeans & Indians along with who-ever else is let in, are driving the whole wage infrastructure down. But hey don’t let me sway your opinion, just listen to the men running the show, they have your best interest at heart I’m sure for sure!
I agree with most of the things u have said, the immigration problem is a big issue in the U.K. and its rather out of control allowing people who will not help the country to improve by no means(of course it is not a general rule, but it happens quite often). The artificial credit system which funded the U.K.’s economy during many years was also another huge problem, but this one is solved as the bubble exploded. And i agree that many U.K. nationals are leaving the country, i have lived in England myself for a while and i would not like to return there to leave unless id have a very good opportunity. But Scotland is nice, i’d live there :)
Don’t forget to subscribe to our list we are delivering news on the GBP and the CAD on a daily basis maybe it will help you somehow and of course we can exchange experiences
Thanks for the offer. I will keep it in mind for the near future as I like to get all opinions, or judgments as they are just that, from as many reliable sources as possible to help make up my own discussion on how to make my next move. The problem now is that the internet has had a great impact on the entire world in ways of trade, banking, stocks & shares & so on as information is readily available be it true or false. A lot more can be done in the comfort of your own home. Transactions are speeded up & some organizations get crippled because of people greed to make money over night. No matter what any trader says, short selling doesn’t help anyone over a prolonged period of time. I’m drifting again……..I will take you up on that but I’m going to take a break for now. It just shortens your life looking & stressing over things like this when you don’t really need to unless that’s all you do deal in forex?
On another matter, Scotland is nice, but most of them have left too for Canada. I bump into Scots on almost a daily basis. Most of them have seemed to come over in the early eighties. This is along with the Irish & Brits from Manchester, Liverpool & some other northern cities. It’s not very often that I bump into southerners. This shows you that the south has been more prosperous than the north, but before I left the UK two years ago I saw some northern towns such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool & Sheffield, which have totally transformed from the dark & dreary towns they were in the past to bustling cities offering almost what London can offer. So the economy in the UK will strengthen in the future but won’t be virtually entirely reliant on the south as it was in the past as organizations which have set up their business or have relocated to the north won’t effected by the extortionate rates & tariffs of the south, along with the slightly cheaper supply of labour. Let’s face it, London is the most expensive city in the world today to start up a business & one, if not the most expensive to live in as well.
I’ve been looking at the forex figures since Mr Darr has written his last post. I hate to admit he’s right again. Sterling against the Cad has slowly declined to 1.71 over the last few weeks & is slowly declining further. I also observed his posts in the past on various other sites over the last ten years or so. I hate to admit, as he “tells it like it is” to many of us in his cocky manner & is very rarely wrong on his projections whether it be on stocks or shares or housing or forex. He works out things very well which makes his projections extremely accurate. Even though I won’t stop reading the economist & stop listening to the gibberish that comes out of some of the so called experts, I will be looking closely to see what he has to say in the future on the economy of the UK or Canada!
Why are you pretending that you are someone else, when in fact you are the same person as “Sajjaad Darr”?
Well thank you who ever you are? But me too like any other human being gets it wrong. By getting it wrong it makes us much more careful on the decisions we make following our mistakes. If you do, it’s too much greed controlling you.
Well as you can see Stirling is floating around $1.54. The super doper analysts wouldn’t have guessed that I bet! It’s amazing even though coming through this strong & being spot on almost with my forecasts, securing sterling before it plummeted, I still have people with no idea telling me what to with my pensions thinking that you can move a pension in a bank account? Nowadays very careful planning is required to have a more secure future since markets are very unpredictable, people with the power at the top are more greedy & corrupt, and all sorts of outside criminals are investing their money all over the place causing more future instability. Don’t ask me how I know. People in the UK know what I mean.
Heh… You know who he is.
wise to remember that a part from a short term spike on the pound’s rates, mr. darr was essentially and generally wrong in his analysis, considering the current pound’s rates.
This is exactly the problem with the net. You don’t know who’s who? Who’s right, who’s wrong. How ever, the figures speak for themself! Regardless of everything elde on this blog, they’re the only accurate forecasts or predictions or what ever else you want to call them? Lucky guesses I suppose. I suggest to delete this post as it’s getting silly & of no use.
By the way….I was talking about the 2012 Olympic games in the UK. The economy won’t be able to handle the stress bought on by the debt they will incur. This will in turn push the currency back up. I thought that would have been obvious to understand by the so called “experts” considering I stated that sterling would fall steadily down over the next years! But just goes to show you once again how they keep getting it wrong. LOL! A few of you out there will remember when a child (under 10 years of age) made predictions as to what companies will perform well over the year & it was compared to a stock market “expert’s” opinion. No guesses who got that right. Make the moves you feel you are comfortable with. Don’t listen to any one. Do your own research. Simple, you’ll only have yourself to blame when you gamble. Not anyone else.
Its so nice to see the truth being published on a site. What a breath of fresh air. This Andrei guy is nothing but a guesser. The Sajjad guy has his figures right as you can’t trick time. I salute people like Sajjad who have the courage to speak the truth. We in the states are sick & tired of the lies they tell to rob our hards earned money. Change is required. I am going to try & find you on the net as your advice looks more credible than these guys. I can even see people in the financial sector asking for your opinion on here. Well done. As for the other guy ( J S) on here, here is a web developer just trying to back A M thats all. Hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about either.
I thank you once again