The pound euro exchange rate is 0.216% higher on the day with 1 GBP = 1.1394 EUR. The pound dollar exchange rate is 0.240% lower with 1 GBP = 1.6181 USD. The pound Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.376% lower with 1 GBP = 1.5737 AUD. The pound continues to hold ground vs the Euro in these volatile market conditions, courtesy of its reputation of being the safest constituent of the pair. "Equities were again the main driver of the currency markets yesterday. European stocks started on the back foot but a more positive US session more than made up for this, helping the euro to bounce back a little against the dollar, though that pair remains towards the bottom end of its range," says a note from UK money transfer company Caxton FX. Today’s session brings us some more familiar fundamental data back into focus, US retail sales and consumer sentiment data should provide plenty of direction this afternoon. Elsewhere, we have some eurozone industrial production data, though again equity movements are likely to prove more telling. With regards to the pound to euro rate, we see the pair gained the best part of a cent as appetite for the risky euro remains very cautious. The news from the eurozone is that short-selling of stocks in France, Italy, Belgium and Spain has been banned for 15 days, though there was a characteristic lack of euro-wide support for the measure. We have seen the share price of French banks suffer hugely from rumours this week, and this latest prohibition is an attempt to calm the extreme volatility in the stock markets (which is also filtering into the currency markets).

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