The currency blog

I moved to Spain with my family over six years ago, having known the country since the days of Franco. My mother is a poet and has lived here for the past forty years and so I have always looked upon Spain as my second country. When, by chance, I was asked to work here I jumped at the opportunity and came to live in Spain permanently.

In fact, moving to Spain has turned out to be an inspired choice, not just for me but also for my family as well. Indeed, as every year passes, we seem to enjoy life here more. In a way, this has been a surprise, possibly because Spain is such a deceptive country. On the surface, to the casual visitor, Spain can appear to be little more than a banality of fine beaches and great bars - with a dose of Flamenco and guaranteed sun mixed in. However, this is a false impression.

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Ronaldo deal getting more expensive by the moment as pound hits new highs against the euro

Christiano Ronaldo’s proposed transfer to Real Madrid was announced on the day the pound hit its highest level against the euro for six months - and until the paperwork is signed and sealed every rise will costing the Spanish club more money.

The pound hit 1.17 euros on Thursday, up from lows of 1.07 in January, and currency experts have calculated that each cent the euro falls will cost the Spaniards an extra one million euros.

The £80million price the two clubs have agreed would have cost Real Madrid €83 million in January when the pound was much weaker, but at today’s exchange rate the same sterling amount will cost Real Madrid €93 million.

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The Indian rupee appreciated by 24 paise against the US dollar in early trade today on increased capital inflows by foreign funds in the domestic bourses.

At the Foreign Exchange market, the domestic unit was quoted lower at 49.38, up 24 paise from its previous close of 49.61/62. Forex dealers said fresh capital inflows in the domestic markets and the dollar weakening against other currencies, supported the rise in the rupee. Save time and money with the new Rate Watch Service. 

Visit : http://www.currenciesdirect.com/uk/rate-watch/

Risk Aversion trading takes over again in the Far East as uncertainty over the seriousness of the ‘swine-flu’ proves the driver for market traders. Official comment puts the death toll so far in Mexico at 103 and although there have been no fatalities from the disease in the US, there have been reported cases in several large cities including at a high school in New York City. This really is an example of ‘watch this space’ and the market will be conscious of any adverse developments. Read the rest of this entry »

The Market gives Alistair Darling the benefit of some considerable doubt, for now anyway. The numbers that we would prefer to see small and positive are horrendously large and negative whilst the future growth projections seems overly optimistic - especially compared to the expectations published by the IMF this week. To expand further, The Chancellor sees 2009 growth at between -3.25% and -3.75% and Public Sector Net Borrowing for the year at 12.8% of GDP which in number terms is around £175 billion. To fund this, the DMO have scheduled the issuance of £220 billion in gilts for the period 2009/10 up from £146.4 billion in 2008/09. Read the rest of this entry »

On the face of it yesterday’s Bank of America’s Q1 figures were excellent continuing the recent strong rebound in US Banks’ performances with the organisation reporting a better-than-expected $4.2bn in Q1 earnings, which reflected strong results at recently acquired Merrill Lynch. Read the rest of this entry »