Jobs data results in poor dollar exchange rate

The foreign exchange rate for sterling has risen against the dollar today after poor jobs data was released in the US last week.

Monday (January 11th) saw sterling rise steadily against the dollar, reaching a high of 1.615 dollars to the pound at around 10:00GMT.

Poor payrolls in the US are thought to have kept the dollar down, while the pound crept up.

However, sterling remained low against the euro as the nation's debt and worries about the forthcoming election kept the currency down.

Paul Robson, currency strategist at RBS, told Reuters: "Sterling is unlikely to outperform. If we get any bad news, euro/sterling will weaken."

The fall in the dollar is suspected to be linked to the recently reported US job losses which were lower than expected.

December 2009 saw 85,000 jobs cut across the US although the unemployment rate held at ten per cent.

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Posted by Chris Barber