After the decision from Washington on Wednesday night allowing the US government to return to work from its first shutdown in 17 years and extend the debt ceiling until February 2014, sentiment was further boosted by overnight data from China which exceeded expectations.
The Chinese economy saw Gross domestic product (GDP) annual growth of 7.8% after the second quarter's 7.5% rise. On a monthly basis, GDP rose from 1.7% in the second quarter to 2.2% in the third, ahead of most analysts who had predicted a growth rate of 1.9%.
The pound was boosted yesterday on the news that UK retail sales volumes grew by 0.6% in September according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), ahead of the 0.4% rise which had been forecast.
The euro was hit by a report commissioned by four major German economic think tanks that cut the growth forecasts for the German economy citing a more sluggish expansion in emerging markets and increasing risks for the global economic recovery.
The four now predict that German gross national product (GDP) would now grow in 2013 by 0.4%, half of the estimate in their last report released in Spring 2013.
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