EN:Pound to Euro: Currency pair continues to head lower
The pound to euro exchange rate is 0.229% lower on the day with 1 GBP = 1.1327 EUR.
The pound to dollar exchange rate is 0.006% higher with 1 GBP = 1.6373 USD.
Pound to Euro lost a cent yesterday as investors moved away from sterling in search of riskier assets.
"Movements in the currency markets have been dictated more by risk on/risk off plays in recent sessions, rather than fundamental data. It was little surprise then that yesterday’s poor German business climate and eurozone industrial new orders data failed to hinder the single currency yesterday," says a note from exchange rate analyst Richard Driver at UK money transfer company Caxton FX.
MPC policymaker Martin Weale is due to talk this afternoon but he is unlikely to tell us anything we do not already know. The UK economy is weak, but it is not panic stations and the BoE are still firmly in wait and see mode.
Pound euro is trading over a cent lower near €1.13, and sterling may struggle to bounce back today.
FTSE 100 this morning - risk on
A positive overnight session in Asia saw the Shanghai composite and Nikkei up 2% and 1.6 respectively, lifting stocks further from recent lows in response to better than expected durable goods figure out from the US yesterday.
The FTSE 100 opened 40 points higher this morning lead by finance and miners, seeing RBS top the leaders up some 6%.
David White, a trader at spread betting company Spreadex, comments on the current volatility being witnessed on the FTSE 100:
"Perhaps more compelling than historically low multiples and strong earnings, are stocks’ current ability to yield on average more than bonds, something that, while happening more in recent years, is seldom seen; investors are rewarded with a higher income from fixed interest than risk-on assets in compensation to their static return on redemption.
"And while stock averages have never failed to reverse this anomaly over time, markets are better placed than most to value assets accurately, and to embrace risk during such a time is cheap for a reason. High volatility and whipsaw price action are probably no coincidence either, as an ever increasing volume of algorithms price not only assets but the consequences of macroeconomic events with eye watering speed."
