The Pound has risen to an eight-month high against the US Dollar after the broadly weaker ‘Greenback’ was weighed down by the withdrawal of Lawrence Summers from the Federal Reserve’s leadership race.
Summers main rival Janet Yellen remains in contention and is now the front runner to replace Ben Bernanke as the Chairman of the Central Bank.
“There’s been a selloff in the US Dollar,” said Michael Sneyd, a foreign-exchange strategist at BNP Paribas SA in London. “Of the two main candidates, Yellen was seen as being a continuation of Bernanke and it was thought Summers would have been a change.”
The Pound is riding high after being supported by a string of positive data releases over the past few weeks. UK house prices are expected to increase by 6% this year, up from the 4% previously being touted by RightMove. With the UK’s housing t, jobs and production sectors all continuing to strengthen, Sterling is on course to hit the psychologically key important $1.60 mark.
Over the past six months Sterling has climbed by at least 1% against all of its most-traded peers and has hit a four-year high against the Japanese Yen and is touching record levels against the Turkish Lira and the Indian Rupee.
Against the Euro the Pound is trading slightly softer after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that the region’s economic recovery remains vulnerable. What interested the investors however was his announcement that interest rates will remain at their current low level for the foreseeable future.
Current Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates:
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5945
The Pound Sterling/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1927
The Pound Sterling/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.7028
The Pound Sterling/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.9421
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6271
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8384
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5872
The New Zealand Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5148
(As of 14:25pm GMT)
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