GBP Advances on Sales Gain, USD Boosted by CPI, EUR Declines after PMI

Published: 20 Nov at 3 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China, France, Germany,

Pound Sterling
On Thursday demand for the Pound was supported by an impressive increase in UK retail sales and better-than-forecast Trends Selling Prices, Trends Total Orders reports from the Confederation of British Industry. Sterling strengthened against both the Euro and US Dollar during the European session. Tomorrow’s UK public borrowing figures could cause more GBP movement before the weekend.

US Dollar
The US Dollar initially advanced in response to moderately hawkish minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. However, the currency went on to soften ahead of the release of the US Consumer Price Index as economists bet the measure of inflation would decline. Consumer prices actually stagnated in October on the month, keeping the annual figure at 1.7%. However, US Dollar gains were limited as initial jobless claims came in above expected levels and investors waited for the publication of the Markit US Manufacturing PMI.

Euro
The Euro weakened across the board as services and manufacturing PMI for Germany and France declined in November. The data added to the argument in favour of the European Central Bank (ECB) rolling out additional stimulus measures and pushed the Euro lower against rivals like the US Dollar and Pound.

Australian Dollar
With China’s Manufacturing PMI registering an unexpectedly steep decline, the Australian Dollar weakened against several of its lower-risk currency counterparts. Before the weekend a speech from an RBA official at the Mining Industry Conference could impact the ‘Aussie’.

New Zealand Dollar
Like its Australian counterpart, the ‘Kiwi’ softened in response to China’s manufacturing report. The currency was also adversely affected by some sub-par domestic figures. New Zealand’s Credit Card spending data could be responsible for more movement before the weekend.

Canadian Dollar
A strong wholesale sales report for Canada gave the ‘Loonie’ a boost on Thursday. However, gains in the commodity-driven currency were limited ahead of tomorrow’s potentially volatile Canadian Consumer Price Index.
As of Thursday, 20th November 2014, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.2511, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5693, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.8202, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.9964, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.7749, and GBP CNY exchange rate was 9.6093.

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