| Currency | Rate Last
Week | Rate This
Week | | EURO | 1.487 | 1.477 | | CY£ | 0.863 | 0.858 | | US$ | 2.035 | 2.020 | | CAN$ | 2.151 | 2.133 | | AUS$ | 2.377 | 2.393 | | NZD | 2.653 | 2.712 | | CHF | 2.469 | 2.415 | | ZAR(Rand) | 14.388 | 14.482 | Charles's Thoughts: Sterling had a strange start to the week losing a cent and half against the Euro very first thing Monday morning. The explanations as to why the sudden movement happened have been somewhat limited especially given the lack of sterling negative news over the weekend. At the same time, there was a rapid decline in the US$ against the Euro. There has been a partial recovery in sterling during the course of the week but it would seem that sterling is now being identified as a high risk rather than a safe haven asset and, as such, is moving in line with the US$ dollar against the Euro. The flight to safety has been brought about by high volatility in the equity markets and the credit crunch in the debt market which are making investors very nervous. The US$ has made gains against sterling. Certainly the US$ is under pressure against the Euro but sterling suffers from a lot of the same problems [i.e. the UK has an extended mortgage market, budget and balance of payment deficits and poor retail figures for July] that are inflicting pain on the US$. There is a view that we could be seeing a significant improvement in the US$ against sterling but I expect that, at best, to be a few months away. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Euro pushed up to towards Euro 1.50. At one stage, at the start of the week, we were close to Euro 1.465. The ECB has made it clear that interest rates will be increased next month by 0.25%. Even though the Euro is very strong against the US$, the German economy is still growing and, as the economic powerhouse of Europe, it means that Euro land is on the up. The strengthening of the Euro against the US$ and sterling was much quicker than anyone could have forecast and we wait to see if it can be sustained. The commodity based currencies such as the Canadian $, South African Rand and Australian $ and the high interest rate currencies such as the New Zealand $ have been in the firing line for the last couple of weeks given the instability in equity and debt markets. Until a bit of stability returns, further weakness is expected, especially for the latter three. 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 your friendly, speedy and efficient service, no fuss and the job done, your excellent service gave us one less thing to worry about. Thank you again." Mr & Mrs S. Lillick (Eastbourne) 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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