Daily currency report

The pound came under pressure after the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price balance dropped. Despite a bright start, the euro hit lows again against the dollar and sterling as traders trimmed long positions in the single European currency. Across the pond the low-yielding dollar fell overnight as upbeat earnings from technology bellwether Intel boosted appetite for riskier currencies while policy tightening by Singapore helped send the greenback lower across the board.

Sterling

The pound faced early pressure as The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors released its monthly housing market survey. The survey came in at nine against expectations of a 19 number confounding markets. Damage was limited however by March's retail sales from the British Retail Consortium which showed a monthly improvement to 4.4 per cent.

US dollar

The dollar gave up some of its gains against most major currencies. Data released showed that the trade deficit with China narrowed to its lowest point in almost a year, but overall trade figures showed a deficit of 39.7 billion in February, which was just over market forecasts. Continued positive vibrations from Europe as a result of the successful Greek bailout plan also saw the dollar lose ground. Although it was able to claw back some losses as a Greek Treasury bill auction revealed higher premiums to hold Greek assets.

Euro

The single currency fell to lows versus the dollar after results from a Greek Treasury bill auction showed the market still required a high premium to hold Greek assets. Greece easily sold its allocation of six and 12 month T bills raising €1.56 billion with the inclusion of non-competitive bids, but at a yield which was very costly for the debt-laden country. The euro briefly rose in the immediate aftermath of the auction as traders reacted to a strong bid to cover ratio.

Japanese yen

The yen lost ground in the overnight session after previously benefiting from strong safe haven flows. A group of Japanese ruling party lawmakers is calling on the government to try to push down the yen to around 120 yen to the dollar to help beat deflation.

Commercial Foreign Exchange Travelex Malta, freephone: 800 733 22, www.travelex.com/mt/