As Friday came to a close, the Pound had lost some ground according to the foreign exchange rate following some rapid sell-off of the UK currency as it fell back against the Euro and the dollar ending the day on 1.1271 and 1.2501 respectively. The final UK manufacturing PMI did not help the pound at all as this saw manufacturing figures pushed lower, indicating bad news for domestic and international payments. The focus this week will be on the plans to ease lockdown which will be announced by PM Boris Johnson.
Things improved for the Euro on Friday as the single currency benefited from optimism throughout the Eurozone as countries begin to get their economies moving again. Despite this, the European Central Bank’s rate that was announced earlier in the week did cap any potential gains.
The US Dollar really did rally as the week came to an end as the safe-haven currency saw an increase in demand following fears of a trade war with China came from President Trump. However, the currency also received support from the fact that the recent ISM manufacturing PMI indicated that there had been a slower rate of contraction throughout April than first expected.