Surging dollar notches records against pound, yen

[Guest wijaya]

http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/surging-dollar-notches-records-against-pound-yen-20130308-2fpj1.html

 

The Australian dollar may have retreated from historic highs against the greenback, but that hasn't stopped it from notching new records against other major world currencies.

The British pound has lost its dominance over the Australian dollar over the last four years, with the local unit setting a 28-year record against the pound overnight, as the UK economy struggles with poor growth and high levels of debt. It has also reached a four-and-a-half year high against the Japanese yen.

Although the dollar has eased from its high of $US1.0652 against the US dollar, set last September, to $US1.0268, as the US economy begins to show signs of recovery.

The records against the pound and the yen signal both the strengthening of the Australian dollar, which has benefited from a once-in-a-generation mining boom, and the faltering of traditionally strong economies.

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CBA currency strategist Joseph Capurso said the trend against the falling pound could remain as weakness in the UK economy persists, letting the Aussie dollar set a new pace against the previously strong currency.

‘‘You have to go back to the mid-80s to get these sorts of levels,’’ he said.

The dollar is now buying 68.39 British pence, a far cry from 2001 when it was buying only 33.45 pence.

Mr Capurso said the UK central bank was likely to inject more money into the economy, which would see the currency deflate further.

But he said it was no surprise that it was weak against the booming Australian dollar.

‘‘Their economy is weaker than ours, so their monetary policy is looser.’’

ANZ currency strategist Andrew Salter said Australia’s wide interest-rate differential against other countries, as well as its '‘safe haven'’ status, were pushing the currency into new territory against those now-weakened economies.

‘‘Both the pound and yen are very weak currencies,’’ he said.

‘‘The yen is weak because of a change in political environment in Japan .... whereas the pound is weak because of some pretty poor growth outcomes in the UK.’’

Mr Salter said a weak yen also reflected a new Japanese government mandate to end the country’s plight against deflation.

The Aussie dollar is now buying 97.41 Japanese yen, the highest since before the financial crisis in 2008.

Mr Capurso said the yen had been weakening since the country recorded its first current account deficit in three decades last year.

‘‘Previously Japan had a very large current account surplus. And that pushed the yen to very strong levels. Then around October last year, Japan recorded a current account deficit for the first time in about 30 years. And since that point Japan’s yen has been weakening,’’ he said.

Mr Salter said the dollar's status against the UK was likely to last several years.

"The UK is one of the economies around the world that has real structural problems in terms of the amount of debt the government has on its books," he said.

But he said the record reflected huge growth in the Australian dollar.

‘‘When you look over the long term, the Australian dollar is benefiting from a rise in the terms of trade that is the greatest in 160 years of Australian history.’’

 

 

 

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

Thanks for posting, I do think that it will be quite a while before we see any real strengthening of the Pound against the Dollar.

[Wisette]

Great read but not so great for us as we are going to be cashing over from the pound to the dollar in the next month or so!!!

Hopefully it will not continue to trend in the same way

[zebedee]

It's a serious business - and means that anyone emigrating in these times is effectively devaluing any money they bring and really going against the flow. The sun may shine here, but financially you are put on the back foot from day one.

[Ian&Beth]

Been around the $1.50 mark for over 3 years now, time to get used to it I think.