IFX Market Report: Tuesday 17th September 2019

The pound fell on Monday, losing some of last week’s gains following comments from Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel that highlighted the difference between the UK’s and EU’s approach to Brexit. The pound fell 0.8% against the dollar before briefly hitting above $1.25, its highest in nearly two months. It fell 0.2% against the euro.

Boris Johnson has been claiming that progress on reaching a deal has been positive, but the EU is sounding less optimistic. Prime Minister Bettel said that the UK had failed to come up with any concrete ideas to break the deadlock before October 31st. Investors have begun shorting the pound again having paused over the past two weeks.

GBPUSD opened at 1.2460 and dropped steadily across the day, closing at a low of 1.2424

GBPEUR opened at 1.1251 and reached a morning low of 1.1238 before climbing sharply to a high of 1.1297 and closing at 1.1291

The dollar made gains against a basket of currencies on Monday as President Donald Trump’s authorisation of the use of an emergency crude stockpile caused a spike in oil prices. The authorisation came in response to attacks on Saudi Arabian refining facilities, which caused anxiety about the disruption in supply. Oil prices jumped 20% with the attacks affecting about 5% of the total supply.

There were consequential affects for several global currencies with the Japanese yen and Swiss franc had making gains on their safe-haven status alongside Norwegian krona, Russian rubles and Canadian dollars for their heavy oil exports. The index that tracks the dollar against six major rivals was up 0.39%.

EURUSD opened at 1.1071 and dropped uniformly across the day, closing at a low of 1.1004