The top and bottom positions on the weekly ladder were occupied by the same half-dozen currencies that had been there a week ago.
At the top, the Yen was helped by an upward revision to first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) that was good enough to make investors wonder if the Japanese prime minister's 'Abenomics' strategy was working already. At the bottom the US dollar, the South African rand and the antipodean dollars had swapped places but still comprised the same luckless foursome.
Commodity-oriented and emerging market currencies continue to take a pasting, mainly because of concern that the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing programme is in, if not its last days, then at least its last weeks or months. Brazil has abandoned the IOF tax that it imposed three years ago to discourage hot money inflows. South Africa is struggling with recalcitrant labour unions. Both countries have seen their currencies fall sharply over the last three months, the real by 12 per cent and the rand by 14 per cent. The damage suffered by the antipodean dollars has been hardly less severe; over the same three-month period the Kiwi is down by nine per cent and the Aussie by 13 per cent.
Sterling's superior performance came largely as a result of the UK purchasing managers' index (PMI) readings, all three of which were above 50 and therefore indicating growth. All of the equivalent Euroland numbers were below 50. Even the USonly managed one out of two in the growth zone; its manufacturing sector fell an unexpected point short at 49.0.
Friday's US non-farm payrolls figure was positive for the US dollar but it was a close-run thing. The 175,000 new jobs were so close to forecast that it was probably just the underlying positive sentiment.
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