A stream of better-than-forecast UK data releases supported the Pound over the course of last week, helping the British currency achieve multi-week highs against peers including the US Dollar and Euro.
As the European session began this morning Sterling continued to trade within touching distance of a two-month high against its American counterpart.
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar Exchange Rate was in the region of 1.5640 as of 10:00 GMT
1 US Dollar is currently worth 0.6396 pence
The Pound was little affected by a report showing that UK house prices dipped in August.
Although data compiled by Rightmove showed that UK house prices fell by 1.8 percent month-on-month, values were still up 5.5 per cent on the year.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry’s decision to increase its growth forecast for the UK bolstered the Pound.
Business lobby CBI hiked its forecast for UK growth for 2013 to 1.2 per cent from the 1 per cent estimated in May.
Growth for 2014 was also upwardly revised from 2 per cent to 2.3 per cent.
The GBP/USD exchange rate hit a high of 1.5646
According to John Cridland, Director-General of CBI, ‘The economy has started to gain momentum and confidence is picking up, but it’s still early days. We need to see a full-blown rebalancing of our economy, with stronger business investment and trade, before we can call a sustainable recovery […] We hope that will begin to emerge next year, as the Eurozone starts growing again.’
CBI also predicted that the employment rate will have dropped from 7.8 per cent to 7.6 per cent by the end of the year.
In comparison with last week, UK news is a little thin on the ground in the days ahead. However, two pieces of influential domestic news are likely to inspire Pound movement over the next five days – UK public sector net borrowing figures (out on Wednesday) and UK second quarter GDP (published on Friday).
GBP/EUR movement could also occur in response to German producer price data and services/manufacturing PMI reports for Germany and the Eurozone.
Meanwhile, GBP/USD volatility is likely to be driven by the publication of minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting.
Current Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates:
< Down > Up
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5635 >
The Pound Sterling/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1732 >
The Pound Sterling/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6985 <
The Pound Sterling/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.9215 <
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6396 <
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8524 <
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5888 >
The New Zealand Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5206 >
(As of 10:00 GMT)
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