The British pound today traded sideways against the US dollar despite the release of upbeat UK GDP data in the early London session. The GBP/USD currency pair kept trading in a tight range for the second straight session despite the release of multiple upbeat UK macro prints.
The GBP/USD currency pair today traded in a tight range bounded by a low of 1.2990 and a high of 1.3027 and was near these highs at the time of writing.
The currency pair opened today’s session with a bullish bias as investors celebrated the likelihood of Theresa May being ousted. Calls for the Prime Minister to set a resignation date have mounted within the Conservative Party as potential replacements emerge. The pair rallied from its daily lows after the release of the upbeat UK Q1 GDP data by the Office for National Statistics. The GDP expanded by 0.5% in Q1 leading to an annualized figure of 1.8% with both prints meeting expectations. The upbeat UK manufacturing production and industrial production prints for March also contributed to the pair’s rally. The positive British trade balance data for March was also a key factor in the muted rally.
The release of the weak US consumer price index data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the American session triggered another rally by the cable. The US Dollar Index today hit a low of 97.19.
The cable’s future performance is likely to be affected by geopolitical headlines as the weekend approaches.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.3025 as at 13:26 GMT having risen from a low of 1.2990. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 142.85 having dropped from a high of 143.23.
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