London FX turnover slips from April record high; pound volumes rise

LONDON (Reuters) – Trading on London’s foreign exchange market reached $2.8 trillion in average daily turnover in October, marking a 6% drop compared to a previous survey in April according to the Bank of England’s latest survey for the six months until October.

In its semi-annual survey of turnover in the world’s largest foreign exchange centre, the BoE said average daily reported UK FX volumes fell from record high touched in April 2021 of $3 trillion.

This was due to a fall in trading of swaps, and spot products, while turnover in outright forwards were mixed.

The BoE reported a 13% increase in sterling activity in October 2021 from April, with the sterling/dollar pair maintaining its position as the second most commonly traded currency pair.

The top traded pair continued to be euro/dollar though overall volumes saw a 15% decline from April. Volumes in dollar/yen, still in the top 3, slid 17% since the previous survey.

(Reporting by Joice Alves; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee)