Sterling ended the week up 0.9%, buoyed by a Yougov poll predicting that the ruling Conservative Party would win by a comfortable majority of 68 seats at the general election on 12th December. However, GBP/USD still cannot breach the 1.30 level with markets still taking any election prediction with a pinch of salt, having been bitten twice before with the UK Referendum and the US elections. The latest opinion poll shows that the Conservative Party’s lead over the opposition Labour party has shrunk to just 9 percentage points.
The Dollar made a small gain of 0.3% in trade-weighted terms, taking it to a 6-week high, thanks in part to an upward revision to Q3 GDP growth to 2.1% qoq annualised from the original estimate of 1.9%. The Dollar is nevertheless up only 1% in the past month.
The Euro and Swiss Franc were broadly flat, with EUR/USD still stuck around 1.10.
The Australian and Kiwi Dollars had contrasting fortunes, with the latter down 0.3% and the former up 0.3% last week. The AUD/NZD cross is now trading sub-1.05, its lowest level since mid-August.
