The change in price of goods sold by factories in the UK rose at their fastest rate in nine months, according to UK data released on Friday.
The change in price of goods sold by factories in the UK rose at their fastest rate in nine months, according to UK data released on Friday.
Currency rates - February 13
EURO/GBP - 1.1918
US$/GBP - 1.5802
CHF/GBP - 1.4410
CAN$/GBP - 1.5780
AUS$/GBP - 1.4691
ZAR/GBP - 12.1086
JPY/GBP - 122.76
HKD/GBP - 12.2518
NZD/GBP - 1.8901
SEK/GBP - 10.4895
AED/GBP - 5.8034
US$/EURO - 1.3256
INR/GBP - 77.68
Further data this week includes the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), unemployment, retail sales figures and inflation, with the latter expected to show a fall from 4.2% to 3.4%.
In the euro zone, unrest continued in Greece as thousands of people protested at the proposed austerity measures put forward by the government including €325 million in additional cuts from this year's budget. Over the weekend the Greek cabinet and their parliament approved the new measures. Matters are being cut fine for the €130 billion bailout as February 15, is pencilled in as a dead line for negotiations to be completed so as to allow time for the legal procedures to be completed before the default day on March 20. Economic data this week should highlight how the euro zone slipped into a downturn in the final quarter of 2011.
In the US on Friday, consumer confidence data and trade balance figures were released which were worse than expected. This dampened slightly the positive sentiment of economic growth that had been coming from the US. This week see's a fair amount of information released including CPI data, more unemployment data and the Chairman of the Federal Bank is also speaking.
Elsewhere on Friday saw Canadian and Chinese trade balance data released which was better than expected. This week see's the release of unemployment data in Australia, retails sales data for New Zealand, CPI data for Canada and growth figures for Japan.
Supplied by Nick Ryder of Smart Currency Exchange, the currency partner to Harpers Wine and Spirit who have teamed up with Smart to provide readers with a free bespoke currency service. Go to www.smartcurrencybusiness.com/winespirit for more information or call on 0207 898 0500.