Better than expected UK construction sector and retail sales data helped the pound reach its highest level against the Aussie for 13 months yesterday.
Data from Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) showed an unexpected return to growth last months for the UK’s construction industry.
The latest index rose to 50.8 in May from 49.4 in April. The last time the index was above 50, which indicates expansion in the sector was in October 2012.
The figures were boosted by expansion of residential activity in May which saw house building work expand at the fastest rate for 26 months.
Meanwhile, UK retail sales rebounded in May according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Like-for-like sales at stores open at least 12 months grew by 1.8% from a year earlier after dropping 2.2% in April and the total value of retail sales climbed by an annualised rate of 3.4% in May after falling by 0.6% in April.
The Australian dollar is under pressure after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2.75% but governor Glenn Stevens hinted that the central bank would still consider easing measures later on this year.
In the US, concerns about the underlying health of the US economy saw a surge in demand for the US dollar following its heavy falls on Monday.
In the euro zone, data showed that euro zone producer prices declined again in April. The dismal data added fuel to speculation that the European Central Bank could announce more interest rate cuts at their next policy meeting tomorrow.
Any change in policy by the ECB seems finely poised. Counteracting the dismal producer price data was the news that the number of unemployed people in Spain plummeted by 98,300 in May, the largest fall in 11 months.
Analysts at Barclays Research have pointed out that the unemployment data and strong manufacturing figures released on Monday both showed an unexpected improvement, supporting the view that the "worst phase for the Spanish economy may now be over".
Meanwhile, the head of the German Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) Clemens Fuest reiterated the hard-line German view by criticising the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday for its role in the crisis, saying that the monetary authority may be acting outside its mandate by helping finance euro zone member governments.
In a newspaper interview, Fuest said that the “ECB is definitely moving in a grey zone” with the ZEW chief argued that saving countries in crisis and reducing their financing costs should be left to governments' fiscal policy in order to avoid an eventual conflict of interest.
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