Sterling volatile thanks to Greece talks

Following the Greek governments announcement of a surprise referendum, sterling had a very strong start to the week soaring to a fresh 7-year high against the euro before coming under pressure and as we start today sterling is very close to where it was at the end of last week.

The release of the UK’s June Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for both the manufacturing and construction industries failed to boost sterling, with manufacturing growth slowing throughout June and strong construction industry data not enough to excite investors. From the UK today, we have the release of the PMI for the services industry, which is expected to have shown strong growth throughout June. A positive reading could boost sterling and see some recovery against its major peers.

The start of next week could be a re-run of the start of last week for sterling if the Greeks vote no in their referendum. However the circumstances will have changed and the outcomes are unlikely to be short lived. If they vote yes then you would expect this to boost the euro but such an assumption may be rash. If nothing else, the last seven years, since the financial crisis of 2008, should have taught us that nothing should be assumed.

Therefore we strongly recommend that if you are looking to buy or sell sterling, we suggest contacting your trader now for live rates, news and currency-purchasing strategies.