I think that the drop was all my fault. It fell from about 1.73 to 1.46 in three weeks while I was in Switzerland. Now that I am back in the UK it seems to be rising again. About 1.66 now.

Don't rely on me for any financial advice

Any traders out there able to give an explanation as to why it is rising?

Chester

Traders are back after the Xmas holidays and now focussing on the negative outlook for the Eurozone and Swiss economies and what that inevitably means for further rate cuts there. Barring more surprises, all the bad news for the UK is already priced into sterling. It had lost a lot of ground vs the Euro and Swissie before Xmas so some rebound in the pound was always on the cards.

Thank you for that response - very clear.

Chester

I was reading that the prices of a lot of Japanese electronics in the UK will start to go up this month due to the strong yen versus a weaker pound. Nikon for example have already indicated that the RRP of some of their camera gear will be going up as of the 12th January.

Link

hi can anyone tell me, when transferring money back to your uk account, is it best to ask bank here to send as chf or to transfer to gbp first then send? thanks

Dontcha worry buddy.
Next time just let us know in advance so we may profit from your Powers

Ciao

Paul

I suspect getting the Swiss bank to convert and transfer GBP since UK banks are still pretty ante-deluvian when it comes to forex. But.. the only way to check is to get quotes from both on the day you want to do the transfer.

PS You might have been better of starting a new thread for this one.. it's a bit lost in the FX doom and gloom.

Bugger... I was hoping to switch some EUR as soon as it hit parity... clouds having silver linings and all that.

D

AS well as Nev's explanation, I understand that a lot of the selling of Sterling in the past few weeks was driven not so much by despair over the British economy compared to the Swiss and other Euro countries, but the need to close out positions prior to the close of the year... hence the rebound after New Year.

Part of the problem is the BofE's rate cuts are not having any positive stimulation affect on the UK economy so the jury is still not giving sterling the benefit of any doubt that the UK might pull itself out of this quicker than Europe in the long run.

Record low rates in UK:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...303F2645C30%7D

Well, we have reached to a point that history seems irrelevant, so I believe short term predictions are just impossible and only wild guesses and can't be based on previous experiences!
Mid-long term forecasts are not easy either, though still little more chance of good guess!
There is bigmoney in the hands of traders, and suddenly one they they become in love with one currency, and days after that they hate it, so price goes volatile. You can not often find fundamental reason to explain short term up and downs. Beileve me or not, but what you hear about explanations of ups and downs are often nonsense,even aritten by best anaylsts. They just justify the things by saying some reasons after something happened but no way of predicting it.

Same as stock,check the titles of headlines, one day when goes down,the title is :Stoks are down as investors are concerned on gloomy ecnomiiy, and just 2 days after if goes up, the title is:Stocks rise as investors are less concerned,.... blabblas. How the fundamentals of economy can change in 2 days!

My Conclusion is, do your research and predict mid or long term and stick to it and prost!

As a thumb rule, always remit funds in 'account' or 'local' currency. So in your case, remit in CHF & let your UK Bank convert it to GBP. The net rate that you recieve tends to be superior (relative to prevailing market, of course) when the bank 'recieving' the funds converts it rather than the bank 'remitting' (It may be the same bank, but in different locations).
Also in many cases, based on your relationship, you can always negotiate with 'recieving' banker for a better rate. Rest is mostly luck.
Another thumb rule for a retail customer is after the transaction is through, never look at the rate

Hi,

Anybody know where I can find historical data on GBP/CHF going back say 50 or 100 years. I recall someone mentioning the rate was once 22 CHF to the pound.

Thank you

Chester

Bloomberg has 40 years of annual data, but can't see much before 1971, when the rate was 10:1

Do you have a link? I cannot find it on the site.

Thank you

It's now sitting at CHF 1.60 to the £. Anyone financial whizkids have an idea when it might start to improve?

Have attempted to attach the chart.
Monthly data from 1971-90

Hope it is of some use

As of today, the only way the GBP could recover *relatively* to the Sfr is that some kind of catastrophic process causes a mass exit from the swissie.
It probably would imply gold way above $1'000 / Eur 800 / Gbp 700 per ounce.

Given the current volatility levels it might happen, maybe for a day or so, and maybe even move the cross 2-3% in favour of the pound. Unfortunately for those who hold Gbp the swissie still rules longer term.
Anyway, a small short-term reaction could eventually reach 1.76, and anything higher than 1.86 would imply something seriously wrong with the Confoederatio Helvetica, IMHO.

Paul

Every time they appointed a bushy-eyebrowed type as Chancellor of the Exchequer the pound tanked. Current correlation stands at 100% for the statistically inclined.

That ought to answer your question...