Chris Redfern Moneycorp

At a cursory glance the currency league table for the last seven days looks uncannily similar to the one from the previous week.

Again it was the New Zealand dollar choking on the wooden spoon while the South African rand romped ahead. It is unusual to see such a repetition, but new factors rose to reinforce the previous week's moves.

For the rand, it was a higher than expected South African inflation rate. In the case of the Kiwi it was the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's warning that 'the level of the NZ dollar is unjustified and unsustainable and there is potential for a significant fall'.

Apart from the Swedish krona, which was off on one of its impromptu walkabouts, the only other currency movers were the Australian and US dollars. The Aussie found support after figures showed Australian inflation accelerating by more than expected. The US dollar received help from upbeat data for employment and durable goods orders.

As for the Japanese yen, the British pound, the Swiss franc, the euro and the Canadian dollar, investors could evidently not choose between them. As near as makes no difference, they were unchanged against one another on the week.

The coming week brings some of the month's most important economic data, including purchasing managers' index readings from around the world, Euroland unemployment and inflation, and the figures for US payrolls and second quarter gross domestic product.

On Wednesday the US Federal Reserve announces its latest monetary policy decision. Although there are only a couple of UK statistics in the mix, the heavyweight data from elsewhere could be enough to set sterling in motion. The ones to watch are Euroland inflation on Thursday and US non-farm payrolls on Friday afternoon.