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Sterling holds firm against the US dollar

Sterling had a mixed day yesterday strengthening against the majority of currencies in the morning before the markets shifted and risk appetite increased.

Currency rates - March 20

EURO/GBP - 1.1992

US$/GBP - 1.5870

CHF/GBP - 1.4472

CAN$/GBP - 1.5698

AUS$/GBP - 1.5055

ZAR/GBP - 12.0231

JPY/GBP - 132.48

HKD/GBP - 12.3189

NZD/GBP - 1.9310

SEK/GBP - 10.6760

AED/GBP - 5.8260

US$/EURO - 1.3227

INR/GBP - 79.74

The pound started to weaken off against all currencies except the US dollar. The main release today is the Consumer Price Index (CPI); but, the markets will be looking towards the annual Budget which has caused a great deal of volatility in the past.

The euro had a fairly strong day yesterday, strengthening against the majority of currencies and was significantly stronger against the US dollar despite a lack of news or data released from the markets. The key reason seemed to be increased risk appetite following the Greek credit default swap auction passing off without a hitch and investors tiring of hoping for euro weakness in the short term. There is not much data out of Europe today as the market will look elsewhere for influence so call in now for a live quote and the latest news.

The US dollar had a very poor day yesterday weakening off against the majority of currencies and reaching fresh lows against both sterling and the euro. Rumours started to circulate that the Federal bank may look to raise interest rates before 2014 as previously stated. Housing data is the main news on the agenda today which includes the number of residential building permits issued during the previous month so call in now for the latest update and a live quote.

Elsewhere, the Swiss franc had a strong day strengthening dramatically against the US dollar; whilst the Swedish krona and South African rand also performed well. On the data front, the change in the total value of sales at the wholesale level in Canada was much worse than expected declining 1.0%. The minutes from the Australians Policy meeting were released late last night and quarterly industrial production figures from Switzerland are released first thing this morning.