Currency Trading – The week at a glance

The good news coming out of Euroland saw the Euro gain on the dollar at the end of last week from a yearly low that it has been struggling to see the back off as the Greek PM tried to persuade labor unions to accept austerity plans and the German unemployment rate fall.

Providing support to this gain was the rise of the Euro against the typically stable JPY which saw the pair fall to 124.70. This rise for the Euro has been welcomed and a long time coming in many traders eyes as the currency lost 7% against the dollar from the start of 2010 mainly due to the economic issues in Greece.

The NZD too rose at the end of last week amongst whisperings that the present recovery will cause the bank to raise interest rates prompting a weakening from the USD to 0.7247, this seems to be a growing trend as the NZD saw a 2% rise against the dollar in April.

The AUD is also expected to come out of its downward trend, with Greece expected to accept the bailout traders looked for riskier investments in which to place their hopes. The AUD strengthen to 0.9306 against the dollar and rose to 87.47 against the JPY
On the back of a new conservative government investors have been providing support to the GBP upon speculation that the new government will start to pay off the budget deficit. This news saw the GBP rise 0.6% against the JPY and 0.4% against the EUR.