The Great Britain pound rallied today thanks to positive macroeconomic reports released in the United Kingdom. The most notable of them was the positive revision to gross domestic product.
The Office for National Statistics reported that UK GDP rose 0.2% in the first quarter of 2018 from the previous three months according to the final estimate. While it was a slower rate of growth than 0.4% logged in the fourth quarter of 2017, it was faster than 0.1% shown by the preliminary estimate and expected by market participants.
The current account deficit shrank to £17.7 billion from £19.5 billion, below the forecast value of £18.0 billion. Net lending to individuals rose by £5.3 billion in May, in line with forecasts. According to the same report, the number of mortgage approvals was at 64,526 (seasonally adjusted), which is above the median forecast of 62,000. The Index of Services rose 0.2% in the three months to April compared to the previous three months, whereas forecasters had predicted no change.
Business investment was the only disappointing indicator released in the UK on Friday, showing a drop by 0.4% in Q1 2018 from Q4 2017, while experts had predicted the same 0.2% rate of decline as in the previous three months.
GBP/USD climbed from 1.3076 to 1.3204 today. GBP/JPY rallied from 144.47 to 146.18. EUR/GBP jumped to the daily high of 0.8891 before retreating and closing little changed at 0.8844.
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