The Great Britain pound advanced today on speculations that the recent string of positive reports will encourage the Bank of England to refrain from adding to monetary stimulus on tomorrow’s meeting. The currency went down against the euro.
The BoE will conduct its policy meeting on May 9. Analysts expect no changes to the policy. The recent data suggested that the economic situation in the United Kingdom is changing, making it prudent for the central bank to wait and see what steps are necessary to facilitate growth of the economy.
Today’s data was mixed. On one hand, the Halifax House Price Index rose 1.1 percent in April, much more than analysts have predicted (0.2 percent). On the other, British Retail Consortium Retail Sales Monitor turned down 2.2 percent last month from a year ago.
GBP/USD went up from 1.5482 to 1.5536 as of 20:39 GMT today and its daily high was at 1.5590. GBP/JPY advanced from 153.26 to 153.78. At the same time, EUR/GBP edged higher from 0.8444 to 0.8466, reaching 0.8488 intraday.
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