Currency Note Sterling

Sterling struggles to hold onto recent gains

By Smart Currency April 25th, 2014

After a strong start, sterling struggled to maintain its recent positive trend throughout the week. Following the Easter bank holiday weekend, sterling started the week strongly on Tuesday as a lack of economic data over the weekend helped the UK currency to continue in a positive fashion. This saw the currency reach a seven-week high against the euro and drive back towards five-year highs against the US dollar. Wednesday saw sterling struggle following the release of minutes from the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which showed discord amongst officials regarding the amount of slack in the British economy.

Thursday saw sterling stabilise after realised sales data came out far higher than forecast levels. Although these figures don’t carry much weight on their own, it suggests that retail sales data, which is released today, may also exceed forecast levels. This figure is expected to have decreased throughout March from last year as Easter, a busy retail period, was in March last year, and therefore any increase from forecast could provide a boost for sterling.

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