The pound Sterling today posted gains against the US dollar ignoring the weak UK PMI data points released by Markit Economics in the early Londo session. The GBP/USD steadily inched higher from the new multi-year highs posted on Last week as the British government’s lockdown measures had a positive impact on investor sentiment.
The GBP/USD currency pair today rallied from an initial low of 1.1578 in the Asian session to a high of 1.1790 in the early American session and was near these highs at the time of writing.
The currency pair traded with a bullish bias from the start of today’s session after the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced far-reaching lockdown measures for the next three weeks. Investors were pleased by the announcement given that the pound rallied following the announcement given the worsening situation in Italy. The release of the weak Markit UK Services PMI, which was recorded at a low of 35.7 missing analysts estimates pegged at 45 had a muted impact on the pair. The upbeat Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI for March, which came in at 48 versus the expected 45 boosted the pair’s performance.
The currency pair also benefited from subdued demand for the greenback as evidenced by the US Dollar Index‘s decline to a low of 101.05 earlier today. The pair dipped slightly following the release of the upbeat Markit US Manufacturing PMI print for March, but the US Services PMI disappointed markets just like the UK’s.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be influenced by geopolitical headline amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.1738 as at 14:05 GMT having rallied from a low of 1.1578. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 130.65 having risen from a low of 128.02.
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