In Thursday’s trading the pound strengthened by 2.54 cents over the US dollar to close at the 1.4724 level, as improved confidence saw demand for the pound increase. Investor confidence improved primarily on rallying equities, with the FTSE index up 3.2%, which was driven by optimism that the G20 leaders would come together with a coordinated plan to combat the global recession and banking woes. The world leaders decided to treble the resources available to the International Monetary Fund to $750 billion and also provide it with a further $250 billion of Special Drawing Rights – its own currency basket of dollars, euros, yen and sterling – to boost the foreign exchange reserves of every country. Also in the UK, news from Nationwide that house prices rose 0.9% in March gave the pound further support. In the US it was announced that 669,000 newly unemployed Americans registered for benefits on top of the 5.728 million already receiving aid.
In today’s trading the market has remained around yesterday’s close after Halifax reported that they believed house prices fell 1.9% in March. Later today purchasing managers index services data is released in the UK, whilst Average Hourly Earnings, Average Weekly Hours, Nonfarm Payrolls, the Unemployment Rate and ISM Non-Manufacturing figures are released in the US.
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