In the first full trading week of the new year, the Pound Sterling rebounded during London trade, helped by an upwardly revised business survey. The latest poll called for the UK's PMI report for December to come in at 49.2, which would have been slightly improved from the previous 49.0 reading. However, Markit surveys reported a reading at 50.0, suggesting the services sector is back in expansionary territory, which analysts say accounted for the shift in sentiment. FX traders will now likely turn their attention to tomorrow's debate in Parliament over Brexit-related legislation.
The GBP/USD was trading higher at 11:23 am in London, with the pair at $1.3161, a gain of 0.5862%; earlier, the pair had hit a session high of $1.31747, while the low was recorded at $1.30562. The EUR/GBP was trading at 0.8510 Pence, down 0.2041% and off the earlier trough of 0.84989 Pence. The GBP/JPY was higher at 142.22 Yen, a gain of 0.5273%.
Event Outlook
A number of PMI surveys are due to be released in the coming days. In the US, Markit's services and composite PMIs for December are expected to be unchanged at 52.2. Tomorrow, the non-manufacturing report for the US will likely show a slight rise to 54.5, according to the latest poll. Potentially market moving events include tomorrow's release of preliminary inflation data for the Eurozone, with economists predicting flat core CPI for December and a rise in CPI to 1.3% from 1%.