Just exchanged the last of £'s to AU$'s
Oct 21st 2004, 9:17 am
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2002
Location: Mornington, Melbourne
Posts: 419
Just exchanged the last of £'s to AU$'s
Hi all,
Just exchanged the remainder of our cash with HIFX at a rate of 245.55
Had a good chat with the broker, he says the dollar is trading in quite a tight range at the moment and the US dollar may even weaken further after the elections, thus strengthening the aussie dollar. The weakening UK housing market could force further weakening in sterling.
Not the best rate in the world, but at least it will probably help me sleep better at night knowing what we have in our kitty.
Good luck whatever you decide.
regards,
65KK
Just exchanged the remainder of our cash with HIFX at a rate of 245.55
Had a good chat with the broker, he says the dollar is trading in quite a tight range at the moment and the US dollar may even weaken further after the elections, thus strengthening the aussie dollar. The weakening UK housing market could force further weakening in sterling.
Not the best rate in the world, but at least it will probably help me sleep better at night knowing what we have in our kitty.
Good luck whatever you decide.
regards,
65KK
Oct 21st 2004, 12:05 pm
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Berkshire
Posts: 360
Re: Just exchanged the last of £'s to AU$'s
Originally Posted by 65 million
Just exchanged the remainder of our cash with HIFX at a rate of 245.55
Had a good chat with the broker, he says the dollar is trading in quite a tight range at the moment and the US dollar may even weaken further after the elections, thus strengthening the aussie dollar. The weakening UK housing market could force further weakening in sterling.
Not the best rate in the world, but at least it will probably help me sleep better at night knowing what we have in our kitty.
Had a good chat with the broker, he says the dollar is trading in quite a tight range at the moment and the US dollar may even weaken further after the elections, thus strengthening the aussie dollar. The weakening UK housing market could force further weakening in sterling.
Not the best rate in the world, but at least it will probably help me sleep better at night knowing what we have in our kitty.
The rate has been improving recently though, despite the housing market news. HIFX emailed me today with 2.4721 as the spot rate and Yahoo is quoting 2.4888.
I'm in no great hurry so will wait a while. I'll pounce on anything over 2.60 and seriously consider anything over 2.55. I'm not inclined to exchange at below 2.50.
Looking over the last year (see http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/m5?s=GBP&t=AUD&a=1&c=1) then you can see that a rate of over 2.50 was only achieved between May and September.
One thing I'm thinking about is to hedge by using IGIndex.co.uk, the spread betting outfit. They quote rates for sterling futures. You could place a bet that would be like exchanging dollars for pounds at the current rate. So, say you planned changing £100k by Jan and IGIndex were offering a rate of 2.45, you could place a bet equivalent to exchanging say £50k worth of dollars into sterling. If the rate moved to 2.50 you would lose out on your bet but gain on the actual exchange compared to today's rate. If the rate moved to 2.40 you'd gain on your bet but lose on the actual exchange compared to today's rate. If the rate stays the same you lose because you end up paying IGIndex their margin. I guess this method means you halve both your potential gains and losses. You could also use it as a way of "buying" a good rate now without having the funds available to transfer - a bit like HIFX's forward rates.
