The Pound Sterling struck a 1-month peak against the US Dollar during Tuesday trade in London as confidence rises that the various lockdowns around the globe may finally be impacting the Coronavirus spread. With the news that the lockdowns seem to be working, riskier bets have been coming back into favor with FX traders. Sterling has also benefited from an improvement in risk sentiment as some European nations reconsider reopening their economies. Currently, however, the UK has no such plans in place to reopen, and some experts believe that Britain is likely to ultimately have been the worst impacted country in the Eurozone area.
As of 10:57 am in London trade, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.2553, a gain of 0.3293% and off the earlier session peak of $1.25779. The EUR/GBP was higher at 0.8722 Pence, up 0.0413%; the pair has ranged from a trough of 0.86828 Pence to a high of 0.87359 Pence.
China Data Lifts Aussie Dollar
News that Chinese trade data was less dismal than analysts had predicted pushed higher risk assets up against the greenback. Data shows that March exports dropped by 6.6% (year-over-year), as compared to analysts' forecasts of a fall to 14%, while imports fell by -0.9%, a less significant decline than the -8 that had been predicted. The AUD/USD was higher as a result, trading at $0.6388, up 0.1034% and off the session peak of $0.64333.