AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,809 Increased By 41.1 (0.42%)
BR30 29,711 Increased By 311.1 (1.06%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

Sterling fell against a broadly firmer dollar on Friday, but analysts said it could build on this weeks recovery against a US currency weighed down by the US Federal Reserves plan to buy government debt. Sterling has gained over 3 percent against the greenback this week and is on track for its best performance since early February, mainly due to the Feds move to effectively create oodles of more dollars.
"(The fall in sterling/dollar) is not particularly surprising because there have been aggressive moves earlier in the week," Paul Robinson, chief sterling strategist at Barclays Capital, said. "Now the market needs time to take a breath".
Against the single currency, the pound gained slightly, but it stayed not far off a seven-week low just shy of 95 pence per euro hit on Wednesday. The Fed shook markets on Wednesday with a decision to buy $300 billion of longer-term government debt, fanning concern that an expansion of its balance sheet beyond the current $2 trillion will lead to an increase in the supply of dollars.
By 1530 GMT, the pound fell 0.7 percent against dollar to $1.4411 after hitting a three-week high of $1.4596 on Thursday. The euro meanwhile fell 0.2 percent against the UK unit to 93.95 pence. Analysts believe, however, that the pounds falls against the dollar will be short-lived, with the US currency enjoying only a small and temporary reprieve after Thursdays hefty losses.
The greenback has fallen roughly 4.3 percent against a basket of currencies this week and is now heading for its biggest weekly decline since 1985. "What we are seeing is a trend of broad dollar weakness, a number of G10 currencies have strengthened, and sterling could be one of those beneficiaries," said Phyllis Papadavid, currency strategist at Societe Generale.
Sterling has been battered for months by a financial and economic crisis that has engulfed a UK economy heavily reliant on the banking and financial services sector. After dismal figures this week showing a record surge in UK unemployment and a CBI survey revealing that manufacturing orders fell at their fastest rate in 17 years, investors are now turning their attention to next weeks UK data releases.
Inflation figures for February are due for release Tuesday, followed by key retail sales numbers on Thursday and the final estimate of fourth quarter gross domestic product on Friday, alongside the current account balance.

Copyright Reuters, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.