Pound (GBP) Rises on Renewed Brexit Optimism as Local Elections Challenge Deadlock

Published: 3 May at 5 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China,

Pound Sterling (GBP)

The Pound (GBP) rose today as the UK local elections have further force Prime Minister Theresa May to challenge the political deadlock between the two major parties, after the Conservatives lost nearly 500 seats.

Sterling has also benefited from the publication of the UK Markit Services PMI figures for April today, which emerged out of contraction and rose to 50.4.

US Dollar (USD)

The US Dollar (USD) benefited from better-than-expected US non-farm payrolls figures for April today, which rose above the forecast 185K to 263K.

These gains were clipped, however, by weakening ISM non-manufacturing PMI figures, which fell to 55.5K against March’s figure of 56.1.

Euro (EUR)

Today saw the printing of the Eurozone’s CPI figures for April, which rose to 1.2%, benefiting the Euro as the economy shows some signs of recovery.

Morgan Stanley the Investment Banking company remained cautious, however, stating:

‘We don’t think that the ECB will read too much into this print. As before, it will probably want to look through the Easter-related volatility in the core metric, which remains low when stripping out these effects.’

Australian Dollar (AUD)

The Australian Dollar (AUD) struggled following the publication of the Australian building permits figures for March today, which fell below expectation to -15.5%.

US-China trade talks, however, have lent some support for the risk-averse ‘Aussie’ as a consensus appears to be emerging between the two superpowers.

New Zealand Dollar (NZD)

The New Zealand (NZD) has fallen against the stronger Sterling today, failing to benefit from restored risk-appetite as US-China trade talks take a positive direction, with some analysts seeing a deal possible as early as next week.

There has been no New Zealand economic data today, with ‘Kiwi’ traders instead focusing on global political developments.

Canadian Dollar (CAD)

With no Canadian Dollar economic data releases today, many ‘Loonie’ traders have been focusing on developments in the US – a close trading partner – and with US-China trade talks improving, this has provided the trade-reliant Canadian economy some support.

As of Friday, 3rd May 2019, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1754, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.3173, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.8762, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.9824, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.7687, and GBP CNY exchange rate was 8.8715.

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