Currency Rates

EURO/GBP - 1.150
US$/GBP - 1.622
CHF/GBP - 1.693
CAN$/GBP - 1.722
AUS$/GBP - 1.808

Comments: Sterling had a quiet day yesterday as the markets await today's gross domestic product figures for the final quarter of 2009. These figures show how the United Kingdom economy has been growing [or not]. The expectation is that after seven quarters of shrinking the 4th quarter should show the economy growing. The United Kingdom lags the rest of the worlds developed economies but hopefully better late than never if growth returns.

There was some positive news at the start of yesterday for the euro as Greece managed to raise funds on the bond market. But this was short lived and we saw the euro lose ground against sterling slowly but surely during the course of the day as the markets assessed this as only the start of the process for Greece. We also had Portugal raising concerns as the minority government is struggling to put through the necessary changes to their fiscal budget required to rebalance their economy.

In the United States we had disappointing home resale figures for December which wasn't wholly unexpected given the expiration of the first time homebuyer tax credit incentive [which has since been extended]. Given this and the bank clampdown being instigated by the President this has led to concerns over the US recovery.

Commodity backed currencies were helped by a stabilising of commodity prices following last weeks sharp falls.

Remember to minimise the chance of losing money due to adverse movements in the markets by speaking to a currency specialist as early as possible.

Note: All rates are mid market inter bank and indicative at the point of publication.
To get an initial estimate of the cost of a property simply DIVIDE the price of the property by the appropriate currency rate noted above.