The British pound today fell against the US dollar following the release of weak UK manufacturing data by Markit Economics failing to capitalize on Friday’s bullish attempt. The GBP/USD currency pair was under pressure from the revitalized greenback following the pause in trade hostilities announced by the US and China over the weekend.
The GBO/USD currency pair today fell from an opening high of 1.2706 in the Asian session to a low of 1.2631 and was trading near these lows at the time of writing.
The currency pair opened today’s session with a bearish bias following the trade truce negotiated by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the weekend. The trade truce triggered a massive rally by the US dollar against its peers as tracked by the US Dollar Index, which hit a high of –. The pair’s weakness was compounded by the release of the disappointing Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI for June, which came in at 48.0 missing expectations set at 49.4. This was the lowest UK manufacturing PMI recorded since February 2013.
The cable’s decline was further accelerated by the release of the upbeat US ISM manufacturing PMI for June, which came in at 51.7 beating expectations set at 51.0. The expanding US manufacturing activity painted a dark picture for the UK, which is dealing with the Brexit uncertainty.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by tomorrow’s UK housing data and BoE Governor Mark Carney’s speech.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2641 as at 19:20 GMT having dropped from a high of 1.2706. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 137.05 having fallen from a high of 137.56.
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