The news that UK house prices increased for a 13th successive month in January may have had only a minimal impact on the Pound, but the British asset was able to maintain a comparatively bullish relationship with the Euro during the local session.
In the opinion of currency strategist Paul Robson; ‘For Sterling there is very little focus on the housing market, that’s very well priced at the moment as prices keep edging higher. We still look for Sterling to outperform and we think some change in [Bank of England] guidance is coming’.
Yesterday the Pound advanced on the Euro as UK growth data added to the case for the BoE revising its decision to hold rates at record lows.
However, the EUR/GBP pairing might be feeling the pressure today, but the Euro could stage a rebound tomorrow following the release of German unemployment figures for January.
The number of jobless Germans is expected to decrease by 5,000 following a drop of 15,000 in December, with the unemployment rate coming in at 6.9 per cent.
Germany is one of the few Eurozone nations not battling record high unemployment, so a better-than-predicted result would be a bonus and could boost the Euro.
Tomorrow the final January consumer confidence reading for the Eurozone is expected to come in at -11.7, with industrial confidence advancing from -3.4 to -2.9, economic confidence edging from 100 to 101 and services confidence climbing from 0.2 to 0.8.
Meanwhile, the Eurozone business climate indicator is expected to have risen from 0.27 to 0.35.
Later on Thursday preliminary German inflation data is scheduled for publication.
Consumer prices in the Eurozone’s largest economy are forecast to have fallen by 0.4 per cent in January, month on month, making an annual price gain of 1.5 per cent.
This stream of influential data for the currency bloc could have a considerable impact on the EUR/GBP pairing, although a positive UK mortgage approvals report could counteract the positive effect of upbeat Eurozone news.
Overnight currency market fluctuations could be triggered by the FOMC policy announcement regarding the tapering of asset purchases in the US.
Euro Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,Pound Sterling,0.8250,
Euro,,US Dollar,1.3672 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.5238,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.5569 ,
Euro,,New Zealand Dollar,1.6515 ,
US Dollar,,Euro ,0.7316,
Pound Sterling,,Euro,1.2121,
Canadian Dollar,,Euro,0.6553 ,
Australian Dollar,,Euro,0.6408 ,
New Zealand Dollar,,Euro,0.6058 ,
[/table]
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