The Pound remained trading higher against the US Dollar on Tuesday as higher-than-forecast UK interest rate data for April continued to provide support.
Data released earlier in the session by the Office for National Statistics showed that the annual rate of consumer inflation in the UK increased from March’s figure of 1.6% to 1.8% in April.
The figure was higher than the 1.7% forecast by economists.
Further gains for Sterling limited as the data means that prices increased at a faster pace than wages.
Data released last week showed that average earnings in the UK increased by 1.7% in the three quarters to February, and if bonuses are excluded the figure was just 1.4%.
A separate report showed that house prices in the UK increased by 0.8% in March compared to the previous year and slowed from the record high increase of 9.2% recorded in February.
As usual London led the way for house price gains with prices soaring by 17% over the last 12 months.
Data released in the USA by the International Council of Shopping Centres and Goldman Sachs showed that week-on-week chain store sales tumbled by 1.3% in the week ending on the 17th of May, year-on-year sales meanwhile increased by 2.4%.
“This past week’s slippage was mainly due to Mother Nature as a very slow moving storm left heavy snow in the Rockies and flooding in the east. Weather Trends International reported that it was the coldest second retail week in May for four years and the wettest in more than 23 years. Despite the weather business at more retail segments were positive than negative relative to the same week in the prior year, which is an encouraging sign,” said the vice president of research and chief economist at ICSC.
The Pound is likely to push higher against the US Dollar on Wednesday as UK retail sales are forecast to come in strongly. Also due tomorrow is publication of the Bank of England’s latest policy meeting minutes.
US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
US Dollar,
,Pound Sterling,0.5938 ,
US Dollar,,Euro,0.7298 ,
US Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,1.0905 ,
US Dollar,,Australian Dollar,1.0810 ,
Pound Sterling,,US Dollar,1.6840 ,
Euro,,US Dollar,1.3700 ,
[/table]
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