Pound Sterling Rebound Sees GBP-USD Rate Hit Best September Level
The British Pound to US Dollar exchange rate fell from the 1.54 level after the pace of UK Industrial and Manufacturing Output slowed and the nation's trade deficit expanded. The Bank of England (BoE) interest rate announcement and the US initial jobless/continuing claims figures are likely to impact GBP-USD trading today.
Earlier...
On a day of little new economic data out from either side of the pond, the British Pound exchange rate complex built on its strong start to the new trading week as a rise in risk appetite lessened demand for the US Dollar and helped the Pound reach its highest level against the US Dollar since 28 August.
A quick foreign exchange market summary before we bring you the rest of the report:
On Thursday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.857
The live inter-bank GBP-EUR spot rate is quoted as 1.167 today.
Today finds the pound to canadian dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.712.
The live inter-bank GBP-AUD spot rate is quoted as 1.918 today.
The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.252 today.
Please note: the FX rates above, updated 25th Apr 2024, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.
In the UK, the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority’s Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics report showed that the overall value of residential loans rose by 1.8% in the second quarter compared to the same time last year with a total value of £1.272 billion.
First time buyers saw the value of residential loans increase to £10.8 billion in the second quarter while the value for buy-to-let lending rose from £7 billion to £8.3 billion.
UK Retail Sales Dip Doesn't Unseat GBP: Pound Sterling Higher against EUR, Steady against AUD, NZD
Despite UK data not printing particularly well, the British Pound was able to gain on the Euro (GBP/EUR) by around 70 pips and also remained close to multi-year best exchange rates against the Australian and New Zealand Dollars.
As if to underline the bumpy road that the UK economic recovery is travelling along, alongside this positive report on the state of the UK residential property market, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG reported that UK retail sales fell during August with like-for-like retail sales falling by 1% in August compared to the same time a year ago.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight commented that "Given the key role that consumer spending has been playing in UK growth, if the BRC does report lacklustre retail sales in August, it would fuel belief that UK GDP growth is likely to ease back in the third quarter from the 0.7% quarter-on-quarter expansion that occurred in the second quarter."
US Dollar Exchange Rate Trends Lower on FOMC Interest Rate Speculation: USD Dips against GBP
Over the pond, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in the US reported that small business optimism remain constant and almost unchanged in August.
Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB Chief Economist commented that "The index of Small Business Optimism went nowhere in August, so the good news is it did not fall. Small business owners did not seem to be very concerned about the antics of the stock market or China's currency devaluation. Maybe it was too late in the month to be fully captured by the survey so more might be revealed in September."
FX News: BoE Rate Decision Predicted to Trigger GBP to EUR, USD Exchange Rate Movement
All eyes are now on tomorrow’s Bank of England (BoE) latest policy announcement to see for any sign in any change within the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) stance on the timing and size of any increase in UK interest rates, stuck at their historic low of 0.5% since March 2009. Likewise, later on this month there is likely to be immense speculation in the run-up to this month’s US Federal Reserve policy announcement as to the timing of any interest rate rise in the world’s biggest economy.