How will GBP/EUR, GBP/USD and GBP/AUD fare in February? (Joshua Privett)

Sterling had an incredibly difficult period in January. Rarely is it that currency market movements make the news but the dramatic falls on rates to buy Euros and various Dollars was hard to ignore.

To gain an understanding for how GBP/EUR, GBP/USD, and GBP/AUD will fare next month it would be invaluable to look back to how the UK economy performed during December and January.

The first few weeks of each month normally see the largest movements for exchange rates on the Pound. This is because the first two weeks are when  data for output in various sectors of the economy are tallied and released- causing the value of the economy’s currency to change wildly based on how positive or negative the figures released paint the UK to global markets.

This is why the first few weeks of January saw the most serious slides for Sterling’s value, as December was was proven to be a very testing month.

Due to the flooding in the North, West, and later on parts of the South-East, industrial and manufacturing output slowed dramatically.

Even retail sales during the holiday period only grew at a fifth of what was expected.

With the flooding having continued into January, I would not be surprised that the latest set of figures to be released over the coming weeks will be displaying the UK in a fairly unflattering light.

Furthermore, January had seen the added hit to the financial service industry – the engine room of the British economy.

Deteriorating news coming out of China caused the second serious panic on global stock markets since October. With more capital going out of financial markets than going into them, we could see an added dimension to Sterling’s current weakness this month which will create testing times for Euro and Dollar buyers.

I strongly recommend that anyone with foreign currency to buy using Pounds in the coming months should contact me on [email protected] to discuss a strategy for your transfer in order to maximise your currency return.

I have never had an issue beating the rates of exchange offered elsewhere, and these current buying levels for Euros and Dollars can be fixed to avoid any further currency movements making your future purchase more expensive.