The impact the General election could have on sterling exchange rates (Dayle Littlejohn)

With only 5 days until the UK public are back to the polling station to decide which party will run the country for the next term, sterling exchange rates have been taking a tumble. Late Friday the pound finished trading against the euro at 1.1405, 5 cents lower than 4 weeks ago.

To put this into monetary value for clients that are purchasing property in Europe a €200,000 purchase is now £7,400 more expensive than 4 weeks ago.

Many of my clients have read articles suggesting that the Conservative party will win a majority and therefore the pound would not suffer. However as I have been predicting for many weeks, it is no surprise that the closer we get to judgement day the polls have narrowed and consequently any party could be victorious.

Yesterday UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the Labour party Jeremy Corbyn both appeared on the popular tv show question time. The show was a slight disappointment as I would like to have seen the leaders go head to head however it was more of a one to one question and answer session with the audience.

My personal view was that both leaders hit stumbling blocks. Theresa May was criticised for announcing a General election, as the audience member believed she had called the election as she believed it would strengthen her position in Parliament. Where as Mr Corbyn could not give a straight yes or no answer in regards to potentially having to use trident, which wasn’t accepted well be the audience.

Personally I still believe the Conservative party will pull through and therefore the pound will recover some of the losses however I am not sure if I were buying a foreign currency I would take the gamble on the full value. My strategy would be to potentially buy half of the currency sooner rather than later and then take a gamble and look to purchase the other half in the future.

The reason why I believe this strategy is wise, it was only 12 months ago when I was writing similar articles and the consensus was for the UK to remain part of the European Union. Many people held off and paid the price when the shock announcement was released on the Friday morning. Could we see more of the same this Friday?

For people that are repatriating a foreign currency into the pound my strategy would be to trade on the eve of the election. I expect this will be when the pound is at its most vulnerable and could therefore provide the best opportunity.

When buying or selling the Pound its important to analyse both currencies that you will be trading (GBPUSD, GBPAUD). Feel free to email me with the currency pair you are looking to trade and the time-scales you are working too and I will email you with my forecast and the process of using our company [email protected].

As a company we pride ourselves in the ability to get you a better exchange rate than your current currency provider or your bank. In addition we can outline your options and the potential future events, which will impact your exchange rate. This will help you to make informed and educated decisions.