NEWS / Foreign Exchange

The pound was modestly firmer against the dollar on Monday

The pound was modestly firmer against the dollar on Monday, following data from Rightmove showing UK house prices rose by a robust 1.5% in March. The 0.1% gain took sterling 0.8% above its level of a week ago, although it closed still down 0.3% on the month.

With the figures helping to cement expectations of higher UK interest rates within the next couple of months, the pound alos gained 0.2% against the euro. However, it remained down 1.6% on month ago levels.

Consequently, the euro slipped 0.1% against the dollar, although it ended the day still 1.3% up on the month.

The yen was the biggest loser of the day as a strong performance from Asian stockmarkets rekindled investors??™ appetite for risk, reversing some of the Japanese currency??™s recent appreciation in the process. Although the yen did initially spike higher following the Bank of China??™s decision to tighten monetary policy, but it subsequently eased as shares in Shanghai appeared to take the decision in their stride. By the close the yen was down 0.8% on the day against the dollar, but still up 1.4% on the month.

Similarly, the yen slumped fell 0.7% against the euro, extending its losses over the past five sessions to 0.9%.

The Swiss franc, the world??™s other major low-yielding currency, was also significantly lower, falling 0.5% against the dollar on the day. However, this still left it sitting on gains of 0.9% over the past week.