The Great Britain pound dropped today after a report showed that the manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted last month. The currency reached the lowest level since July 2010 against the US dollar.
The Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped from 50.5 in January to 47.9 in February, the first reading below the neutral 50.0 level since November. Analysts have predicted that the index would stay little changed. Most other economic indicators were indeed stable. The Nationwide House Price Index rose 0.2 percent in December, with the same pace as in January. The number of mortgage approvals was 54,719 in January, near the December figure.
GBP/USD tumbled from 1.5160 to 1.5028 as of 12:29 GMT today. GBP/JPY declined from 140.32 to 139.44.
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