Coronavirus: British Pound plunges to its lowest level in over 30 years

Saikat Chatterjee, Iain Withers

 

FILE PHOTO: Wads of British Pound Sterling banknotes are stacked in piles at the Money Service Austria company's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, November 16, 2017. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The British pound plunged on Wednesday to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 and to a more than decade-low versus the euro as coronavirus fears and a global rush to hold dollars overshadowed stimulus efforts.

 

Sterling has come under fierce selling pressure since hitting a two-month high above $1.31 last week but the selloff accelerated on Wednesday as traders dumped positions across the board in a mad scramble to get their hands on dollars.

 

Against the dollar, the pound plunged as much as 5% to $1.1452, falling past the $1.1491 level hit during the October 2016 “flash crash”. That was the lowest since 1985, according to Refinitiv data.

 

It then inched off those lows to $1.1615, down 3.6% on the day.

 

Against the euro, the pound fell as much as 3.5% to 94.33 pence per euro, its lowest level since March 2009.

 

Analysts said a rush by investors to snap up dollars - seen as a safe haven in times of crisis - and risk aversion towards Britain at a time when it already faces Brexit disruption were behind the moves.

 

“Sterling is in a very difficult situation - you don’t want any kind of extra risk in your portfolio,” said Ulrich Leuchtmann, head of FX and commodity research at Commerzbank.

 

“You might be positive about (Brexit) or not, but you knew you were taking additional risk, which is not required at the moment so there is a big motivation for dumping sterling at the moment.”

 

While long positions in the pound have reduced to some extent, they still remain near their highest levels in two years, according to latest positioning data.

 

Demand for dollars was rife in central bank dollar operations across the board and the greenback rose more than 2% against a basket of currencies to the highest since March 2017.

 

Banks borrowed more than $15 billion from the Bank of England’s U.S. dollar repo operations on Wednesday, part of measures announced by six central banks to keep the financial system working during the coronavirus outbreak.

 

“The pound has been hung out to dry as the insatiable appetite for dollars continues as a liquid funding currency. The huge market selloff is leading to a scramble for dollars despite the efforts of central banks to stem the tide,” said Phil McHugh, chief markets analyst at Currencies Direct.

 

 

 

Pound traders shrugged off Britain’s plans for a 330 billion pound lifeline of loan guarantees and a further 20 billion pounds in tax cuts, grants and other help for businesses facing the risk of collapse.

 

But British government bonds suffered a torrid day, in line with a global selloff in debt markets following the announcement of trillions of dollars in stimulus by governments from Japan to the United States.

 

Ten-year British government borrowing costs spiralled almost 30 basis points on the day, their biggest one-day rise since 1998.

 

In addition, incoming Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey indicated policymakers were at least considering cash handouts to citizens to get the economy moving. Asked on printing money to give to individuals, he said he didn’t “rule anything out”.

 

Also on Wednesday, Britain ordered all schools to close from Friday as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose 48% from the previous day. That has economic and social repercussions for the world’s fifth-biggest economy, forcing many parents to stay home from work.

 

Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 here

Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote here

 

(Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee and Iain Withers; Editing by Nick Tattersall, Gareth Jones and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-19

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Yes and wait for all the others to follow. If I was a conspiracy theorist  it could easily be seen as a great way of the elite crippling the economy and they making large sums of money on the peoples misery.

 

This has been done more than a few times in history. Just wait for the

Currently 37.83 Thai Baht to the GBP last week's heady 41.1 seem a long time ago.

5 minutes ago, shy coconut said:

Currently 37.83 Thai Baht to the GBP last week's heady 41.1 seem a long time ago.

It looks like the pair should open around 37.15 (at banks) this morning.

 

Here's the real time midpoint, add/subtract 50 satang for individual banks mark up.

 

https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/data/currencies/gbp-pairs/GBPTHB-exchange-rate/

Edited March 18, 20206 yr by saengd

The Aussie Dollar has done the same - historical low.  The Thailand Baht is staying high while most of the first world currencies are taking a bath. Unbelievable.  This is one hell of a show.  Someone should make a movie about it.

Back in October of 2003 one Euro was 54 Baht and one Pound was 73, if I remember correctly. Now the Euro is worth more than a Pound. 

4 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Back in October of 2003 one Euro was 54 Baht and one Pound was 73, if I remember correctly. Now the Euro is worth more than a Pound. 

In 1957 the Pound was worth $2.86, things change.

The forthcoming British fire sale just got cheaper for the US.

50 minutes ago, AussieBob18 said:

The Aussie Dollar has done the same - historical low.  The Thailand Baht is staying high while most of the first world currencies are taking a bath. Unbelievable.  This is one hell of a show.  Someone should make a movie about it.

The Australian economy is propped up by selling raw materials that are not so much in demand by the real economies that produce value added goods and services.

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The forthcoming British fire sale just got cheaper for the US.

Expect Buck Pal to be renamed Trump Towers UK as Americans buy up UK real estate, again.

Seems that the markets are aware of the fact that UK's NHS has about half the number of intensive care beds its European neighbours have. 

BTW this fact is probably the what motivated BJ's "Herd immunity" response. Also is seem that Germany, typically, is way better then others in keeping its people alive.

Spend 330 billion, and the £ will inevitably fall in value.

5 minutes ago, Snackbar said:

Spend 330 billion, and the £ will inevitably fall in value.

France alone is spending $380 million yet the Euro isn't falling.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-17/macron-throws-away-budget-plans-with-384-billion-virus-response

2 hours ago, saengd said:

Queue the long list of posters asking why the Baht isn't falling also and the answers remains the same as always:

 

it's a much smaller currency that is not fully convertible;

low government debt, extremely low foreign debt (no foreign currency loans dependency);

USD is rising, THB loosely tracks the direction of USD by virtue of the managed float and for trade bill settlement;

high foreign currency reserves, high current account surplus;

very low social care overheads;

exports still forecast to remain at a respectable level.

Why did u leave out the Crash of Tourism ?

and Exports are at a respectable.

Pull the other one .and it will yodel

<deleted> speculators,they earn money by basically doing nothing,

bottom feeders.

regards Worgeordie

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by metisdead
8.) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but if those moaning about the pound went back home , then your pound is still worth a pound.

 

I'm back in blightly in 24 hours ish. I'll send the wife £500 a month, and the exchange will be what it will be  - she'll just have to cope with it, water and noodles for a while - she's had worse

5 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Forgive me if I am wrong, but if those moaning about the pound went back home , then your pound is still worth a pound.

 

I'm back in blightly in 24 hours ish. I'll send the wife £500 a month, and the exchange will be what it will be  - she'll just have to cope with it, water and noodles for a while - she's had worse

But that pound here can buy a kilo of chicken breast for 49baht...cheapest in UK is over a fiver kilo....mind you a tin of mushy peas is only 29pence rather than 79baht here

3 hours ago, webfact said:

It then inched off those lows to $1.1615, down 3.6% on the day.

 

Against the euro, the pound fell as much as 3.5% to 94.33 pence per euro, its lowest level since March 2009.

It will be interesting to see, if and when Euro and USD will become more valuable currencies than GBP.

30 minutes ago, saengd said:

Maybe, but this is an issue about exports so maybe not as bad as you think, dunno.

There is no doubt that the massive increase in tourism and the whole cottage industry around that, plus extensive construction of property over the past 20 years has fuelled Thailand's economy....exports previously but to a smaller extent. Worldwide tourism will be down for years to come and economies such as Thailand that are heavily reliant will be the worst hit and longest to recover. Be a nice place to live again without tour buses etc

5 minutes ago, TheDark said:

It will be interesting to see, if and when Euro and USD will become more valuable currencies than GBP.

Way things are going next week maybe

Tomorrow and the next 3 months it's the same news.

8 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Can I ask what you do?

I support myself without recourse to anyone else.

 

“I live in the USA so don't really care if the Dollar takes a nose dive. MyHusband has a large investment in Sterling so all the better actually. “

 

...Makes life here nearly impossible, may have to sell a kidney to remain with the exchange rate so bad...

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by mike787

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I support myself without recourse to anyone else.

 

“I live in the USA so don't really care if the Dollar takes a nose dive. MyHusband has a large investment in Sterling so all the better actually. “

 

Okay. If you ever want to level with me let me know. Otherwise I am no longer curious. The dollar climbed today if you feel any better.

Edited March 19, 20206 yr by Cryingdick

11 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

36.68 for cash exchange at Bangkok bank this morning. The Euro has also fallen slightly from its highs but still OK, the Dollar is rising in value, a problem for the companies with large Dollar debt. All in all one could say teflon Thailand is still shining, or at least the Baht is, I can't see any weakening of the Baht for some time to come.

36 for cash at Super rich, the spread between cash and TT amounts is over 3 baht which is really large, cash dealers are saying they don't want to hold GBP because it's so volatile.

 

 https://daytodaydata.net/

troll post removed

Surprised  not to hear from the Brexiteers saying  dont panic once we leave the European union 

The pound will rise back to the good old days of 50-60  baht

( I think not )

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

I'll send the wife £500 a month,

Another 6 months and I hope she's prepared to return the favor. 

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Forgive me if I am wrong, but if those moaning about the pound went back home , then your pound is still worth a pound.

 

I'm back in blightly in 24 hours ish. I'll send the wife £500 a month, and the exchange will be what it will be  - she'll just have to cope with it, water and noodles for a while - she's had worse

Do you understand that the UK is highly dependent on imports and those imports aren't priced in pounds? That if the pound sinks, the price of those imports goes up?

Pound is not the only currency , AUD dropped about 10%., I believe USD also dropped The only one that remains strong is THB????