Pound weakens for ninth session in a row

The pound was weaker for the ninth consecutive session as unemployment grew in the UK and as the Bank of England cut its forecast for growth in the first quarter of next year to just 0.1 percent, from an earlier prediction of 1 percent growth in that quarter.

At midday in New York the pound traded at 79.71p to the euro while it took $1.8672 to buy a pound.

The Japanese yen was stronger Wednesday as investors backed away from purchases of higher-yielding currencies on fears of a recession in Japan and as interest rates looked ready to go down in Australia and New Zealand.

At just before noon in New York, the yen traded at ¥108.61 to the US dollar and at ¥161.655 to the euro while it was at ¥94.154 to the Australian dollar and at ¥75.63 to the New Zealand dollar.

The greenback, meanwhile, was stronger in relation to the euro, trading at $1.4884 to the shared currency on a gain of 1.9 percent at an annualized rate in the US gross domestic product and even though retail sales in the United States declined by 0.1 percent overall in July even though taxpayers were receiving rebate checks from the government in an effort to stimulate the economy.

The South African rand was weaker ahead of Thursday’s interest rate decision by the South African Reserve Bank on forecasts that the Bank will hold rates steady and on the news that retail sales were down in June from the same month last year.

The rand traded at $7.8985 to the US dollar in midday trade in New York while it was at $11.767 to the euro.

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