Sterling dropped to a one-week low against the dollar and neared a two-week low versus the euro but recovered later as the market tempered its reaction to recent economic data. Oil prices jumped over $1 to near $67 a barrel following threats that Al-Qaida was preparing attacks on the US and supply concerns from crude oil exporters Iran and Nigeria.

GBP

The Bank of England has now held rates at 4.5 per cent since August, when it cut rates for the first time in two years to shore up a flagging economy.

USD

The dollar rose against the euro and yen after the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest since April 2000. Midway through the New York trading day, threats by Osama Bin Laden to attack the US once again sparked a technically driven sell-off in the dollar that muted the dollar's recovery.

EUR

The euro continues to trade within a narrow band against the dollar. A relatively uneventful CPI at 2.2 per cent and persistently strong but nit flawless TICS report from the US retained the status quo in the single currency as the focus shifted to the Japanese currency.

JPY

Japan's economy is recovering as companies boost investment and an improvement in the labour market encourages consumers to spend.

Compiled by Commercial Foreign Exchange Travelex Malta. (Free phone: 800 77 33 22)

www.travelex.com.mt

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.