| Currency | Rate Last
Week | Rate This
Week | | EURO | 1.474 | 1.477 | | CY£ | 0.856 | 0.857 | | US$ | 2.010 | 2.017 | | CAN$ | 2.110 | 2.131 | | AUS$ | 2.444 | 2.475 | | NZD | 2.808 | 2.873 | | CHF | 2.412 | 2.435 | | ZAR(Rand) | 14.530 | 14.455 | Charles's Thoughts: The markets became a bit calmer in the last few days as the news flow was less scary. But we shouldn't get complacent as I suspect there are still significant problems out there just waiting to see the light of day and when they do the markets will move very very quickly. Debt funding is going to be a problem for the medium term which is going to constrain growth. The Bank of England has not had to pump in the huge volumes of liquidity into the market place that the Fed had to in the US and the European Central Bank in Europe. This has enhanced the BOE's reputation but sterling is not looked at as a safe haven asset and as such will be under pressure when problems arise. The US$ has weakened slightly and has held above the US$2 level. The flight to safety meant that US$ treasury bills became a safe haven asset. Investors were even sacred to leave their funds in banks in case they went bust! This benefited the US$ but as stability has returned we have seen the US$ slowly slide as it has significant economic difficulties; twin budget and balance of payment deficits, housing problems and now the first signs of rising unemployment. So no major upside for the US$ any time soon. A bit of strength for sterling against the Euro towards the end of the week but this is the holiday season and volumes are low. The German banks have suffered greatly from the problems with sub prime loans being significant buyers of the securitized sub prime debts that were distributed around the world and have proved to be near enough worthless. We have truly become a global market and this has increased the volatility resulting from the recent credit crunch. I would consider buying on any short term weakness in the Euro, such as now, as it may be short lived. The New Zealand and Australian dollars had a bad end to the week as an Australian hedge fund collapsed and another New Zealand finance company failed. We saw both these currencies push back towards the rates of a couple weeks ago. 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: "We where put in a position of getting money to Cyprus quickly. Smart Currency were fantastic, got our money to Cyprus on time. At a good rate. As it turned out the property was a nightmare - thank God we had a good independent lawyer. Don't buy abroad without one." Richard Johnson, Grimsby 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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