Sterling edged down to a six-week low on Thursday against a dollar, boosted by expectations of a March U.S. interest rate hike, while data painted a mixed picture of Britain’s economy.
A survey on Thursday showed Britain’s construction industry growing slightly in February but new orders slowed. That followed Wednesday’s marginally weaker-than-expected figures from the manufacturing sector. Sterling fell by 0.1 percent on the day to $1.2274 by 1630 GMT but was far more robust against the broadly stronger dollar than a handful of other major currencies including the yen and the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The pound inched higher on the day to 85.68 pence per euro.
“Investors are very mindful of the inherent political risks in the UK and the dollar-based interest rate resilience in the U.S.,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets.
A Reuters poll on Thursday showed currency strategists expect a slow, orderly decline in the pound once Britain formally triggers Brexit talks. It has lost almost a fifth of its value against the dollar since June’s EU referendum. A spokesman for Theresa May said on Thursday the Prime Minister was clear that the legislation needed for her to trigger formal divorce talks with the European Union should be passed by parliament unamended, after its first version suffered a defeat in the upper house on Wednesday.
via Kitco
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.
Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Latest posts by Alfonso Esparza (see all)
- Market Rally Still Going Low Holiday Volumes Awaiting Start of 2020 - 27 December 2019
- Market Awaits China Retaliation on Trade - 29 November 2019
- Alibaba to Close Order Book Ahead of Huge IPO - 18 November 2019