The Pound Sterling to Singapore Dollar (GBP/SGD) exchange rate rallied by around 0.92% during Tuesday’s European session.
After British Consumer Prices and Core Consumer Prices declined in June, the Pound dived versus its major peers. The depreciation was short-lived, however, following positive comments from Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney during a speech to parliament. Carney stated that low inflation was only temporary and he expects a significant pick up towards the end of the year. This stoked speculation that the BoE will hike the benchmark interest rate early in 2016. Additional Sterling gains can be linked to better-than-expected results from June’s Retail Price Index and June’s BRC Like-for-Like Sales.
‘The point at which interest rates may begin to rise is moving closer with the performance of the economy, consistent growth above trend, a firming in domestic costs, counter-balanced somewhat by disinflation imported from abroad,’ Carney told a parliamentary committee.
The Pound Sterling to Singapore Dollar (GBP/SGD) exchange rate is currently trending in the region of 2.1207.
The Singapore Dollar, meanwhile, dived versus its major rivals after growth data printed particularly disappointingly. Second-quarter Gross Domestic Product declined by -4.6% on a quarterly basis despite predictions of 0.9% growth. On the Year, Singapore’s second-quarter GDP came in at 1.7%; slightly under the median market forecast 1.85% economic growth.
‘Growth slowed across the board,’ Tim Condon, an economist at ING, said in a note Tuesday. ‘The last time we saw anything like this was in the fourth quarter of 2008,’ during the Global Financial Crisis. ‘The leading indicator points to further downside growth risks in the coming quarters,’ Jason Daw, a foreign exchange analyst at Societe Generale, said in a note Tuesday. ‘Households are lacking the ability to leverage up, reflected in (stagnant) bank lending, and with wage growth near zero consumer spending should remain on the soft side.’
Looking ahead, Wednesday’s Singapore Retail Sales has the potential to provoke changes for the GBP/SGD pairing. In addition, Wednesday’s British labour market data is likely to have a significant impact on the GBP/SGD exchange rate.
The Pound Sterling to Singapore Dollar (GBP/SGD) exchange rate was trending within the range of 2.1012 to 2.1255 during Tuesday’s European session.
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