Euro rate

[Campo Kenny]

Just noticed that the £ to Euro exchange is 1.39, god knows what the high street rate is.............thats the lowest I've personally ever seen it since we became involved with Spain 6 years ago.........has it ever been lower than this?

Glad we've no need to change any money at present but feel sorry for others who need to.
This can't be helping the housing market either

Kenny

[Cassandra]

I think it went to 1.37 about 18mths - 2 years ago but didn't stay that low for long. Hopefully just a blip and it'll start to rise again soon

[Campo Kenny]

I hope so too Cass. Didn't realise it had dropped to 1.37 though.

Again it must have been at a time when we'd no need to exchange.

We tend to bank some when rates are good for future visits but have decided to stop this practice.

It's as though the word gets spread around at the bank, and we get all sorts of weird over charges and bills when they realise there's money there. Maybe a coincidence or has anyone else noticed this?

Kenny

[costapacket]

I had to send some money over last week and was gutted at the exchange rate. My New Years res is to keep an eye on it next year.

I only put in the bank what I need to to cover bills. Is there a limit to how much cash you can take abroad at any one time??

[blondie]

Maybe a good time to buy some pounds?

[El Cid]

It hit a low of 1.39 in May 2003.

For those who remember the rates with the Peseta that's equivalent to 230pta/£. I can remember when it was a lot lower than that!

Sid

[laclotte]

Maybe a good time to buy some pounds?

Yes blondie......as well as USD and CHF.....using EUR as the buying currency. I use this site for business purposes and find it very user friendly and informative.
http://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurof ... bp.en.html

[Don]

Get the whole graph from "the horses mouth" at http://www.ecb.eu/stats/exchange/eurofx ... bp.en.html

[Kmoppz]

I had to do a bank transfer today, not for a huge sum, and only got 1.341 ouch!

Only 2 months ago I was getting 1.475

[Campo Kenny]

Those graphs certainly show why 2000/2001 were boom time years for house sales to Brits.

Kenny

[spanish_lad]

heard on the radio today that the euro is worth 73p. good for us going to the uk on holiday.. but pants for people coming over or changing money like you say.

[Kmoppz]

According to the bank of England the pound is going to remain weak against the euro for a good while yet.

A pain if you earn yout money in the UK and spend it in Spain, as I do!

[Colinm]

If you had joined the Euro, then you wouldn't be having this problem



In Ireland we are true Europeans and accept all EU grants in any currency!
We even changed from Miles to Kilometres for distances and from Miles per hour to Kilometres per hour for speed limits.

The Government recently announced that as full integration with European Driving Directives we will now change over to driving on the Right hand side of the road.
Unfortunately, there is not enough money available to do this instantly, so it will be done on a phased basis.

Year 1 - the trucks will start driving on the right hand side,
Year 2 - the buses and taxis will start driving on the right hand side
Year 3 - private cars and motorcycles will transfer to the right hand side

[Kmoppz]

Trust the Irish.

[spanish_lad]

Maybe a good time to buy some pounds?

if i had say €5000 spare, then i'd buy pounds and wait for it to go back up.

realistically tho, whats the profit margin on anything like that? if it goes from 1.39 back to 1.47 you are only gonna get an extra 8c per pound, not really worth it unless you can afford to change LARGE sums of cash ?

[laclotte]

Year 4 - there isn't a car/bus/bike/truck left to use the roads in Ireland as they are all in the scrap yard
So just a waste of the EU funds

[Kmoppz]

Maybe a good time to buy some pounds?

if i had say €5000 spare, then i'd buy pounds and wait for it to go back up.

realistically tho, whats the profit margin on anything like that? if it goes from 1.39 back to 1.47 you are only gonna get an extra 8c per pound, not really worth it unless you can afford to change LARGE sums of cash ?

Thats what 5 or 6% return, thats not bad. But to play the market you need to move it through 3 or even better 4 markets, to raise the return... and the risk!

[laclotte]

You can login to the site below (once registered) where you can trade under real market conditions with real prices and spreads. If you are at all interested in the currency market this site is really good fun. You can 'make' or 'lose' quite a lot of 'monopoly' money.
Some people are really good traders without ever realising it.

http://fxgame.oanda.com/

[katy]

Currency market is a bit unsettled. I never seem on the right side, every time I needed to transfer a large amount from the UK it always seemed to take a dive. When it is low if I wait for it to pick up, it goes lower, when I buy it goes higher a few days after. I have bought the $ at a good price though for future use.

The last serious blip in the currency market wiped out one of the currency exchange co's so it is a risky game

[jwc]

Don't think it will get any better for a while. I fear a recession is coming to UK big time and that only means a weak pound.