The U.K. fell “vertically” today after quarterly gross domestic product figures were published in London, signaling that the national central bank will have to extend its measures to help Great Britain on its way out of recession, decreasing attractiveness for the pound, which fell drastically.

The South African rand had the worst performance among 16 main traded currencies today after a news agency affirmed that the national central bank intended to intervene massively stopping the rand to fluctuate, causing a negative impact in the rand rates today.

The Swedish krona fell today after the national central bank maintained interest rates at a record low, indicating that the Nordic economic will require further stimulus to recover from the current recession.

After trading near parity with the U.S. dollar this month, the Canadian dollar was pushed away from equality with the greenback as the national central bank published a report on the subject, as well as stocks and commodities declined today.

The U.S. dollar rose after extending once again its record high for 2009 after China missed slightly its quarterly growth forecasts, and economic stimulus in the country will continue for a certain amount of time, suggesting the country is not so recovered as previous expected.

After a part of the 2010 budget was approved by the government, confidence towards the Mexican economy improved, attracting investors to the Latin American emergent market and influencing positively the peso rates.

The Brazilian real posted sharp gains today after several negative sessions on speculations that the country’s economic strength will induce central bankers to raise interest rates in the country, attracting more foreign investors.

The British pound gained versus its main rivals the euro and the U.S. dollar, after a day of decisions in the Bank of England in which the asset-purchase program was voted to be held unanimously, together with statements published in newspapers that added attractiveness for the Great Britain currency.

The New Zealand dollar had a good performance today gaining versus the dollar and the yen after government officials did not relate a strong kiwi with eventual delays in interest rate hikes, adding speculations that the South Pacific country is on the way to raise its benchmark interest rates.

The Brazilian real has been the best performing currency among the 16 more traded in foreign-exchange markets this year, and after a central bank measure to tax foreign investment on stocks and bonds to curb the currency’s rally, the real fell today.