020 7898 0500Sterling ended the trading day close to where it had started against the euro. This however disguises the fact that there had been significant movements during the course of the day. Against the US dollar its overall movement was positive. These movements were primarily due to the news flow from elsewhere as there was a lack of significant economic data released from the UK.
Sterling had started the day in positive fashion against the euro, moving higher against the single currency in the lead up to the European Central Bank (ECB) decision on interest rates. With Eurozone interest rates remaining unchanged, sterling continued to rise before falling sharply as ECB President Mario Draghi kicked off their press conference. Despite Draghi’s attempts to assuage fears over the Greek debt situation, sterling soon pushed close to 1 month highs following the press conference. But come the close of the trading day in the UK, sterling suffered a setback in US trading against the euro with the euro moving back to where it had started the day.
A quieter start to the day against the US dollar saw sterling struggle initially. However, with manufacturing data from the New York area coming out well below expectations, sterling rose to a fresh 1-week high throughout the afternoon.
Another quiet day lies ahead for sterling, with US unemployment claims and manufacturing data from Philadelphia taking centre stage. If this manufacturing figures shows a similar slow-down to the New York area, we could see sterling strengthen further against the US dollar.
