The Great Britain pound was mixed today, falling against some rivals while rising versus others. Such behavior is not surprising, considering that Britain’s macroeconomic data released over the trading session was mixed as well. The sterling was trying to erase losses but currently is not successful.
The Office for National Statistics reported that gross domestic product rose 0.3% in May from the previous month, matching expectations, after falling 0.4% in April. Both manufacturing and industrial production rose 1.4% in May from April, missing expectations of an increase of 2.2% and 1.6% respectively. Construction output increased by 0.6% in May, month-on-month, compared with an increase of 0.4% predicted by analysts and the drop by 0.5% registered in April. The index of services rose 0.3% in the three months to May compared with the three months ending February, the same as in the previous reporting period and exceeding the median forecast of a 0.1% increase.
Released separately, the report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research predicted that Britain’s economy will show a contraction by 0.1% in the second quarter of this year. Nevertheless, Britain should avoid technical recession as the economy is expected to rebound in the third quarter.
GBP/USD advanced from 1.2462 to 1.2496 as of 14:57 GMT today. At the same time, EUR/GBP rose from 0.8891 to 0.9003, trading near the highest level since January 11. GBP/JPY was flat at 135.62 after rising to the daily high of 136.05 earlier.
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