GBP Softer, USD Surges Across the Board, AUD Pares Gains

Published: 11 Dec at 3 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China,

Pound Sterling
Over the course of Thursday’s European session, Sterling lost ground against the majority of its currency counterparts. The British currency came under pressure as a report showed a decline in UK house price growth. The GBP/EUR exchange rate softened and the GBP/USD pairing posted additional declines in response to the US retail sales report. Tomorrow’s UK Construction Output report could be responsible for additional Pound Sterling movement.

US Dollar
A stronger-than-expected increase in advance US retail sales gave the US Dollar a boost on Thursday. While economists had expected a month-on-month increase of 0.4%, retail sales actually rallied by 0.7% in November. As the report supported the case in favour of the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates the ‘Greenback’ was pushed higher across the board.

Euro
Bets that the European Central Bank will introduce additional stimulus measures in January kept the Euro trending lower against the US Dollar on Thursday. The common currency held its own against the Pound as the British asset fell following the release of disappointing UK house price data. Tomorrow’s industrial production report for the Eurozone could also prove influential.

Australian Dollar
While the Australian Dollar did rally in response to the news that the Australian economy added over 40,000 positions in November, the fact that the nation’s headline unemployment rate rose later saw the ‘Aussie’ reverse gains. The Australian Dollar tumbled against almost all of its currency counterparts as trading continued. China’s industrial production and retail sales reports could be responsible for further ‘Aussie’ movement before the weekend.

New Zealand Dollar
With the Reserve Bank of New Zealand delivering a surprisingly hawkish policy statement, the New Zealand Dollar posted impressive gains against peers like the US Dollar and Euro. The RBNZ hinted that it will resume its interest rate hiking cycle next year.

Canadian Dollar
Canada’s new housing price index had little impact on the Canadian Dollar on Thursday and the commodity-driven currency remained under pressure as a result of falling oil prices. The gain in US retail sales also kept the CAD/USD pairing trending lower.
As of Thursday, 11th December 2014, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.2684, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5719, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.9062, GBP NZD exchange rate was 2.0182, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.8125, and GBP CNY exchange rate was 9.7281.

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