Published: 15 Aug at 10 AM Tags: Pound Sterling, Euro Exchange Rate, Dollar Exchange Rate, Currency Exchange, Forex, Euro Crisis, UK, Economy, Pound Euro Exchaneg Rate, Pound Dollar Exchange Rate,
With yesterday’s better-than forecast UK employment figures continuing to support the Pound, the British currency was able to begin European trading stronger against rivals including the US Dollar and Euro.
The Pound’s advance against the ‘Greenback’ was aided by the expectation that UK retail sales climbed for a third month.
And with this morning’s data showing that UK retail sales gained by significantly more than anticipated in July, Sterling’s bullish attitude is likely to continue in the hours ahead.
Economists forecast that retail sales increased by 0.6 per cent month-on-month and 2.7 per cent year-on-year, but they actually surged by 1.1 per cent MoM and 3.1 per cent YoY – the highest annual rise since the beginning of 2011.
The summer heat wave and royal baby celebrations were cited as reasons behind the unexpectedly large increase.
In response to the data economist Philip Shaw stated: ‘July’s retail sales numbers were decent once again. Part of the reason seems to be the hot weather in July, but nonetheless the trend has been clearly one of an upward climb in sales for quite some time now, so it bodes well for household consumption during the third quarter, and indeed recovery prospects in the economy more generally.’
The Pound is currently trading against the US Dollar in the region of 1.5546 and was able to achieve a high of 0.8518 pence per Euro.
With pertinent European economic news a little sparse tomorrow the Pound may be able to end the week strongly, although Eurozone CPI figures could impact the GBP/EUR pairing.
GBP/USD fluctuations can be expected to occur before the weekend as a result of tomorrow’s US University of Michigan Confidence report.
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