The pound strengthened over the US dollar by 0.33 cents in Monday’s trading to close at the 1.4264 level. Earlier in the day the pound had hit a low of 1.4113 as equity markets fell, risk aversion spread and jitters surfaced ahead of the G20 meeting this week. UK shares fell as much as 3.5% after the US government’s ‘auto task force’ rejected viability plans from General Motors and Chrysler and warned that bankruptcy remained an option. However, the pound did pare its losses in later trading and there were some positive announcements in the UK yesterday - mortgage approvals rose to 38,000 in February from 34,000 in January and the GFK Consumer Confidence index improved.
In today’s trading there has been little movement as investors await the announcement of consumer confidence data, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index and the ABC/Washington Post Consumer Confidence in the US. Whilst there are no major economic announcements in the UK today, investors will be paying close attention to British news ahead of tomorrow’s G20 meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment