This week was relatively quiet despite releases of policy minutes of several major central banks. The Great Britain pound attempted to rally and was able to hold gains against such currencies the euro and the Japanese yen, while retreating close to the opening against the US dollar by the end of the week.
The week was perhaps not as fateful for the pound as some experts have predicted but it was certainly not bad for the currency. The major positive driving force for the sterling was the minutes of the latest Bank of England policy meeting. The minutes reveled that policy makers discussed possibility of monetary tightening or at least stimulus reduction. It was very supportive factor for the currency, yet it had troubles keeping the upward momentum.
As for other central bank, there were few surprises for them. The Federal Reserve minutes also showed discussions of stimulus exit but did not help the US dollar immediately, though the greenback gained strength afterwards. The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia hurt the Australian dollar, while the Bank of Japan policy meeting was beneficial for the yen.
GBP/USD rallied from 1.6814 to 1.6920 over the week but retreated to 1.6824 over the weekend. GBP/JPY rallied from 170.73 to 171.57, while EUR/GBP dropped from 0.8142 to 0.8099 (0.5 percent).
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