The comments issued by Bank of England Official David Miles regarding the fragility of the UK’s recovery may have worn on the Pound overnight, but the British asset strengthened modestly against its North American rival during the European session as UK retail sales pleasantly surprised.
The Pound Sterling to US Dollar Exchange Rate was in the region of 1.6027 as of 11:40 GMT.
Yesterday Miles asserted that while UK data was largely surprising to the upside, after a double-dip recession and stagnating growth; ‘it would be spectacularly misguided to think that some signs of more normal growth mean that the economy is back to normal.’
However, while last week’s UK retail sales report may have been less-than-impressive, an index compiled by the Confederation of British industry showed sales climbing at the fastest rate for over a year this month.
The CBI gauge jumped from 27 in August to 34 in September – the best result since June 2012.
While economists had expected the index to slip to 23, improved sales at grocery and furniture outlets supported the gain.
Similarly, the volume of orders placed with suppliers increased from 10 last month to 14 this month, while a three-month moving average measure of sales leapt from 15 to 26.
In response to the result a member of the CBI panel commented; ‘It’s encouraging to see the high street on the road to recovery. But the retail sector is not out of the woods yet with consumer confidence still fragile.’
1 US Dollar is currently worth 0.6239 pence
The Pound gained slightly against the US Dollar after the report was published, but retained declines against the Euro.
With German and Italian consumer confidence increasing by more than expected the EUR/GBP pairing strengthened, but after UK GDP data is published tomorrow (at 09:30 GMT) further fluctuations in the pairing can be expected.
Current Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates:
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The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6027 >
The Pound Sterling/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1862 <
The Pound Sterling/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.7119 >
The Pound Sterling/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.9437 >
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6239 <
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8429 >
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5841 <
The New Zealand Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5147 <
(As of 11:40 GMT)
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