Pound up on oil prices, less manufacturer pessimism

The pound was stronger Wednesday as oil prices reached their highest level of the year, on investor willingness to make risky currency trades, and after a report showing that UK manufacturers are less pessimistic about output in the next few months than they have been recently.

At mid-afternoon in New York, the pound traded at 87.7p to the euro while it took $1.5745 to buy a pound.

Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened on the possibility that economic conditions will promote investor interest in higher-yield currencies.

Dollar declines also came on dropping volatility in equities and currencies markets as with volatility indexes in both Chicago and in Europe reached their lowest levels in 8 months.

In afternoon trade in New York, the dollar traded at $1.381 to the euro while it took ¥94.83 to buy a dollar.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars were worth 77.88 cents US and 60.85 cents US respectively, while the South African rand traded at R8.2955 to the greenback and the Brazilian real traded at 2.0197 to the dollar.

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