Pound Profits from Europe’s Woes

The Great Britain pound closed higher against most of the major currencies, including the Japanese yen, the euro and the Swiss franc, though fell versus the US dollar, as the ongoing debt issues in the European Union made traders to consider the sterling something like a refuge from Europe’s problems.

The UK stocks rose for the first time in 10 sessions. The FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.7 percent. The yield on the gilts maturing in 10 years increased 14 basis points to 2.30 percent.

The minutes of the Bank of England monetary policy meeting released on November 23 were rather dovish. The Monetary Policy Committee members voted unanimously for keeping the main interest rate at the record low 0.5 percent and the asset purchases program at £275 billion. Some policy makers even proposed an additional stimulus to help the economy that is clearly faltering.

GBP/USD dropped from 1.5495 to close at 1.5432, while GBP/JPY was up from 119.47 to 119.94 and touched the high of 120.44 intraday. GBP/CHF closed at 1.4353, higher than the opening of 1.4242, while the daily high was 1.4453.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Great Britain Pound,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *