The British pound is flat against the Australian dollar on Friday.
Sterling was only able to muster up small gains in retort to the big upside move in the Aussie yesterday that carried the pound-Aussie dollar exchange range to a fresh 3-month low.
The exchange rate has stabilised near 0.90 with forex markets mostly having a quiet day despite monthly US unemployment rising by far the most on record.
GBP/AUD was up by 5 pips (+0.03%) to 1.9033 as of 3pm GMT.
The currency pair had tanked -1.27% on Thursday, leaving a weekly loss of -2.26%.
GBP: Markets brush off US jobs loss
The pound was mainly trading in sync with a more ‘risk on’ market which has seen the US Nasdaq Composite index turn positive for the year.
The mood was undaunted by a record 20.2 million Americans losing their jobs in April, down slightly from the 22 million forecast. US President Trump in a TV interview on Friday reflected a view held by many investors, saying that the jobs “will come back” because the economy is “artificially closed”.
It is only once economies have been sufficiently reopened after being closed in such an unprecedented way, that the data becomes more helpful in judging the enduring harm leftover by the lockdowns.
The UK published the agenda for EU trade talks next week. They will go from 1400 GMT on Monday through to 1115 GMT on Friday.
AUD: US-China relations thaw
Some signs that US President Donald Trump’s threat of more tariffs on China won’t come to fruition has kept the Aussie close to 3-month highs on Friday. It is important for Australia that the US and China keep any quarrel over the coronavirus origin separate from their trade deal.
Trump had a softer tone on Friday saying he does not believe China released the coronavirus on purpose and will decide soon on World Health organisation funding.
US and Chinese top officials said they would ‘meet their obligations’ under the phase one trade deal signed in January in a phone call on Thursday night.
