The British pound today rallied higher against the US dollar after a speech by British Prime Minister, Theresa May, where she called for collaboration between the EU and the UK on Brexit negotiations. PM May made her comments at an informal meeting with leaders of the European Council even as she remarked that the current Brexit talks had been challenging.
The GBP/USD currency pair rallied by over 90 points from its daily low of 1.3101 hit during the late Asian session.
Mrs. May’s comments were the main driver behind the British pound’s rally as she reiterated her commitment to getting the best deal for the British public. The release of the positive UK public sector finances report for September also boosted the pound. The Office for National Statistics reported that public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks) decreased by £2.5 billion to £32.5 billion in the current financial year-to-date (April 2017 to September 2017), compared with the same period in 2016. This was the lowest year-to-date net borrowing since 2007.
The release of the US existing home sales data released by the National Association of Realtors boosted the US dollar slightly, but the pound rallied higher later. Existing homes sales were recorded at 5.39 million in September versus the expected 5.30 million, which indicated 0.7% growth.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by political events in the UK and the USA over the weekend and into the coming week.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.3191 as at 14:52 GMT having rallied from a low of 1.3101 earlier today. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 149.55 having rallied from a daily low of 148.08 in the Asian session.
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