By: DailyForex.com
The Pound Sterling edged higher against the US Dollar, hitting a 5-week peak, after the latest economic data showed that the UK economy was holding its own after the June Brexit vote. Last week, both retail sales figures and inflation data were more upbeat than had been expected, which leads to the conclusion that in the aftermath of Brexit there is, thus far, only minimal impact on the UK consumer. UK jobless claims were also better than expected which helped to boost the Pound.
As reported at 10:51 am (BST) in London, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.3109, a gain of 0.24%; earlier, the pair had hit a daily low of $1.3026 while the session high was $1.3120. The EUR/GBP was down 0.54% to trade at 0.8619 Pence; the daily range for the pair had 0.8606 Pence at the low and 0.8676 Pence at the high.
UK PM Weighs in on Brexit Timing
The Pounds’ gains were tempered by news from Bloomberg press that Britain could begin its Brexit strategy by early 2017, however, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, said that the UL government had no intention of invoking the Lisbon Treaty’s Article 50 before the year’s end. Economic data for the UK will be sparse in the week to come with only the second reading of Q2 GDP growth.