The Great Britain pound edged a little lower against the US dollar and the Japanese yen but gained on the euro today after the release of macroeconomic data from the United Kingdom. The reports were mixed, providing no clear direction for the currency.
Britain’s gross domestic product rose 0.4 percent in the first quarter of this year according to the final revision, up 0.1 percent from the previous estimate. Most analysts were counting on exactly this reading. On an annual basis, GDP grew 3 percent — the rate of growth not seen since 2006.
GfKâs UK Consumer Confidence Index also demonstrated a positive reading, showing an increase of the gauge from 1 to 7 in June. As for the bad part of today’s data, current account deficit was down to £26.5 billion in Q1 2015, down from the revised deficit of £28.9 billion in Q4 2014. Of course, it was not a bad reading by itself, but economists have promised a bigger drop to £23.7 billion, meaning that the actual report was a disappointment.
GBP/USD ticked down from 1.5736 to 1.5706 as of 12:02 GMT today. GBP/JPY was down from 192.80 to 192.48, reaching the low of 191.75 intraday. At the same time, EUR/GBP declined from 0.7139 to 0.7110, and its daily minimum was at 0.7081.
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