The Pound pushed to a high of 12.1339 versus the Swedish Krona on Tuesday, before closing the session up just 0.1%. The lacklustre advance came after a 2.6% loss for the Pound across the previous week. As trading begins again on Tuesday, the Pound versus Swedish Krona exchange rate is once again heading lower.
At 07:30 UTC, GBP/SEK is down -0.5% at 11.9314.
Recession Fears Drag on Pound
The Pound is losing ground as coronavirus fear continue to grip investors. As Boris Johnson steps up the response telling Britons to avoid pubs, offices and travel, businesses demand billions in help to avoid failures.
Leisure, transport and retail sectors have warned that without an economic rescue package the coronavirus pandemic will lead to widespread business failure and rocketing levels of unemployment.
Airlines, train companies, retailers, pubs and restaurants have warned that the £7 billion set aside to help businesses deal with the virus in the budget is not enough. The near halting of the UK society is threatening thousands of jobs. Boris Johnson has pledged to give them all the liquidity needed, including measures such as allowing more time to pay tax.
There is UK jobs data due for release today. Unemployment is expected to remain steady at 3.8% in the three months to January. Average wages are also expected to tick higher to 3%, up from 2.9% . However, investors are not expected to pay much attention to the data given that it was from before the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.
Riskbank Unveils Further Support
The Swedish Krone traded on the back foot in the previous session but is pushing higher on Tuesday after the Riksbank unveiled further measures to shield the Swedish economy from the coronavirus impact.
The actions pledged include offering more loans to banks on favourable terms and increasing asset purchases. Following an unscheduled meeting on Monday evening, the Riksbank also announced that it will reduce its overnight lending rate to banks to 0.2% above its repo rate and increase purchases of securities by up to 300 billion Swedish Krona.
The package also offered measures such as the central government assuming the full cost of sick leave. VAT and tax can also be delayed for a year as the government looks to do as much as possible to ensure as many businesses as possible survive.
There is no Swedish data due to be released today. Investors will continue monitoring coronavirus developments.
