Forex: Wednesday’s review

The pound fell to a 15-month low against the euro after the Bank of England minutes showed that some officials voted to expand the program to buy assets at a meeting this month. Sterling fell to its lowest level since June against the dollar after reports showed that the policy is also considered cutting interest rates. Note that Mervyn King, Paul Fisher and David Miles in a vote called for increased bond purchase program by 25 billion pounds ($ 38.3 billion) to 400 billion pounds, while the remaining six members of the Monetary Policy Committee were against the increase. Also exerted pressure on the currency presented data that showed that, according to estimates of the International Labour Organization, the number of unemployed for three months (December) increased by 10,000, reaching with 2.5 million people, amid the unemployment rate rose to mark of 7.8%, compared to 7.7% three months earlier (before November). At the same time, the Office for National Statistics reported that the number of unemployed in the same period decreased by 14 thousand. The ONS also said that the number of employed people increased by 154,000 (in the three months to December), while still achieving the level of 29.730 million, which is the highest figure since the introduction of registration in 1971. In addition, the Office for National Statistics said the number of applications for unemployment benefits fell in January by 12,500 to 1.54 million,

The New Zealand dollar fell against 16 major peers after the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Wheeler said the bank is ready to intervene in the foreign exchange market if necessary. Meanwhile, he added that the official interest rate will also be used if necessary. In addition, it was announced that the central bank is also considering the possibility of macro tools that can support monetary policy. At the same time, Graham Wheeler acknowledged that the New Zealand dollar was "significantly overvalued" in terms of the economic base, a negative effect on some of the production sectors.