The Great Britain pound rallied on Monday but retreated a bit against the euro and Japanese yen today. At the same time, the currency retained its gains versus the US dollar with the help of a positive retail sales report.
UK indicators were not supportive for the sterling lately, so the positive retail sales data from British Retail Consortium was welcomed by traders (at least those of them who have made bullish bets on Britain’s currency). The BRC Retail Sales Monitor showed an increase by 3.2 percent in March for a year ago. David McCorquodale, Head of Retail, commented on the result:
An early Easter and better economic news helped lift retail sales out of the doldrums in March and the sector posted the strongest sales growth seen in nearly a year. While the figures are inflated by the timing of Easter, they are still a welcome boost for retailers who have battled flat or falling like for like sales for the last quarter.
Despite the positive news from the retail sector, the pound did not perform well during the early Tuesday’s trading. It is not surprising considering the long-term negative effect of the delayed interest rate hike and uncertainty about the outcome of the upcoming elections.
GBP/USD rallied from 1.4620 to 1.4674 yesterday and traded at about 1.4683 as of 1:22 GMT today. GBP/JPY retreated to 176.08 following yesterday’s rally from 175.94 to 176.26. EUR/GBP dropped from 0.7238 to 0.7199 during the previous trading session but bounced to 0.7206 during the current session.
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