Markets seemed a little annoyed at the Bank of England’s 25 point hike this morning with the view this should have been more. The central bank remains cautious ahead of an economy struggling. The Bank of England (BoE) hiked their cash rate from 1.0% to 1.25% which rallied the GBP post release to 0.5665 (1.7650), it couldn’t consolidate around these levels spilling back to 0.5707 (1.7520). With the UK leading the recession race with the outlook uncertain one gets the impression the central bank is holding back on bigger hikes in light of economic weakness wary of not sending the economy to a howling halt. Aussie job numbers pushed a little higher with the participation rate at 66.7% and the unemployment rate remaining at 3.9%, the labour market remains tight. Key data out next week comes in the form of UK CPI, sitting at 9.0% I’m not sure they can afford this to go much higher.
The current interbank midrate is: AUDGBP 0.5697 GBPAUD 1.7553
The interbank range this week has been: AUDGBP 0.5663- 0.5777 GBPAUD 1.7308- 1.7658