gbp-british-pound-coin - GBP

The British pound is lower against the euro on Friday.

A bounce back for the euro after yesterday’s European Central Bank meeting and souring market sentiment meant the pound-euro exchange rate traded heavily.

The pound had been a big beneficiary of the widespread dollar weakness yesterday, so as the dollar regained strength the pound suffered some of the biggest losses.

Pound to Euro was down by 84 pips (-0.73%) to 1.1406 as of 2pm GMT.

GBP/EUR fell from the top of its weekly 100-pip range to the bottom on Friday, in essence a fall from 1.15 to 1.14. The exchange rate had gained +0.24% yesterday with near flat weekly returns at -0.14%.

GBP: Back below 1.15

Currencies like the British pound and indices like the UK’s FTSE 100 caught the brunt of a sell-off at the start of the new month because many European bourses were closed. For now at least investors seem to be following the old adage in markets “Sell in May and Go away”.

The main source of anxiety across markets stemmed from US President Donald Trump’s coronavirus briefing on Thursday. Trump said he had seen evidence that the coronavirus came from the Wuhan centre for virology, rather than a wet markets as the official story to date has been told.

The more cautious tone at the end of the week comes following a week of optimism that countries were gradually easing lockdowns and that a treatment for the coronavirus might soon be on offer.

EUR: Gains on May Day

The euro gained over pound, taking the exchange rate back below the key 1.15 figure that has acted as a ceiling for prices for over a fortnight.

Many European stock markets closed for May Day so lighter trading volumes may have added to the quick move lower that erased most of the gains for the week.

The daily coronavirus case count hit a 5-day in Germany but with the reproduction rate still below 1.0%, Angela Merkel and German authorities have not voiced any concern. The general feeling so far is that no European country is planning to backtrack on lockdown easing measures.