| Currency | Rate Last
Week | Rate This
Week | | EURO | 1.266 | 1.266 | | US$ | 1.994 | 1.982 | | CAN$ | 2.018 | 2.015 | | AUS$ | 2.074 | 2.059 | | NZD | 2.617 | 2.614 | | AED | 7.323 | 7.280 | | CHF | 2.036 | 2.033 | | ZAR(Rand) | 15.760 | 15.305 | Charles's Thoughts: Did sterling have a lucky escape this week? The American private equity firm looking to invest in Bradford and Bingley pulled out citing a downgrade in the B&B's debt as the reason. In stepped the Bank of England to make sure that there was no rerun of the Northern Rock debacle. However it reinforces how precarious the finance markets are and that the credit crunch has a long way to run. Mortgage draw downs continue to fall as do house prices and the UK economy could be heading for a recession. Not a pretty picture. The only plus for sterling is that it is not dissimilar elsewhere. The US$ had a mixed week hitting US$2/£1 towards the start of the week. Strangely the US$ gained ground following an increase in US unemployment. The increase was in line with expectations but at the same time the European Central Bank was making its announcement on € interest rates. The market took more interest in the latter and as such decided to look positively at the US$. However, the problems in the US are still extreme and as such I wouldn't expect any major strengthening for the US$ short term. The European Central Bank increased € interest rates by 0.25% which was expected. However the statement that accompanied the increase made it clear that this could well be the final increase for quite a while. This is quite a change from the expectations following the last ECB meeting in June and as such the € lost a bit of ground. Problems in Euro land vary from country to country and they do have the benefit of the German industrial power house. However, even this is beginning to suffer given the worlds economic woes and the strong €. Again, no major movement for sterling against the high yield and/or commodity backed currencies. Why is Currency Management So Important? Using a bank could cost you £3-4,000 per £100,000 transferred. Buying at the "wrong" time could cost you many £'000's more as rates can move as much as 3% in a very short period of time. Then add in transfer costs that the banks charge for sending and receiving funds and you could be looking at additional costs of £10,000 per £100,000 transferred. By developing a currency strategy and by working with a specialist currency broker these losses could be minimised if not eliminated. Smart Client Testimonial: "Thank you for making our currency transactions go so smoothly. As promised, our account was opened within hours. Your traders were pleasant and efficient, and each transaction was very much at the exchange rate I expected...ie not a million miles away from the inter-bank rates and certainly much better than my high street bank could quote. All in all, an easy experience and we will have absolutely no hesitation in recommending your services to any of our friends buying property abroad." Ian Pritchard If you haven't opened a Smart account yet, call me on freephone 0808 163 0102 or fill out our online Account Form at: http://www.SmartCurrencyExchange.com/application.htm How much will a Property Cost? To estimate the cost of a property simply DIVIDE the price of the property by the appropriate currency rate noted above. But note this is based on the inter bank rate so the actual cost will be slightly more. 
Charles Purdy
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