The US Dollar softened to a four-week low against the Pound and the GBP/USD pairing is close to pushing above the 1.62 mark causing Sterling to make its third consecutive weekly gain against the ‘Greenback’.
The Dollar edged higher slightly earlier in the session following comments made by Bank of England policy maker Spencer Dale. In an interview with the BBC Mr Dale warned that the UK economic recovery is likely to take years.
“We had a very deep recession; we have a number of years to go. Interest rates are likely to remain low for a sustained period,” Dale said. He also warned that the nation’s housing market was heading in a positive direction and was not predicting a housing bubble.
“We know that the housing market can quickly go from normal levels to overheating,” but that the UK is “not there now”, he added.
Against a number of other peers the US Dollar was relatively mixed as uncertainty as to when the US Federal Reserve will choose to begin tapering its $85 billion per month monetary easing programme.
Earlier the Euro gained ground against the US currency after the Ifo Institute for Economic Research released data which showed that Germany’s business climate index rose to a 19-month high of 109.3 in November, from a reading of 107.4 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 107.7 this month.
Demand for the US Dollar remained supported after preliminary data on Thursday showed that U.S. manufacturing activity improved to an eight-month high of 54.3 in November, while a separate report showed that jobless claims in the world’s largest economy last week fell by 21,000 to 323,000.
The Dollar was higher against its New Zealand, Australian and Canadian relations as demand for those riskier commodity based currencies fell.
US Dollar (USD) Current Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6172
The US Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7399
The US Dollar/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0550
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6199
The Euro/ US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3513
(Correct as of 12:10 pm GMT)
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