Sterling settles with lack of data

After all the market turbulence last week amidst the uncertainty of the referendum outcome, the pound is currently consolidating its position with a lack of key data to be announced. There were a few minor releases yesterday to speak of starting with the latest Euro-zone PMI figures. Manufacturing, Composite and Services PMI all came in very much as expected with small growth in each sector and little change from last month. The Euro still enjoyed a strong day as more buyers start to come into the market with the Euro having been sold off so much in the last 4-5 months. This is likely to increase in coming months and could well restrict any further gains for GBP/EUR.

UK Mortgage approvals dropped marginally from 42.8k to 41.6k in August and Public Sector Net Borrowing was more than expected at £11.6B, and most importantly some £12B more than last month’s figure which is seen as a negative result for the pound. Sterling had another volatile day and ultimately finished more or less where it started against most currencies as recent gains show signs of turning around over the course of the week.

Elsewhere Canada released July’s Retail Sales figures which were much worse than forecast with the month on month figure down at -0.1% from 1.2% previously and somewhat shy of the expected 0.5%. The Canadian Dollar lost ground immediately after the announcement with GBP/CAD currently trading at the best levels in 4 weeks.

Today is another quiet day on the markets with only minor IFO releases for Germany at 9am and New Home Sales figures for the US this afternoon at 3pm.