The Euro weakened against the Pound for another consecutive day on Wednesday as data showed that UK retail sales surged in April.
According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales soared by 1.3% in April, a figure which was more than double the figure forecast by economists, the rise was due to discount offers and robust food sales in the Easter holiday period.
On a year-on-year basis retail sales leapt by a huge 6.9%, beating expectations for a rise of 5.2% and added to the 4.8% rise recorded in March.
“The fundamentals for consumers are currently improving overall, and they should continue to do so over the coming months as employment rises further and earnings growth likely trends higher than inflation, thereby lifting purchasing power. The strong housing market is also supportive of retail sales,” said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight.
Today’s Bank of England minutes release also provided the Pound with support as they suggested that some of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is becoming more hawkish regarding a rise in interest rates.
The minutes said that the MPC sees an interest rate rise decision as more balanced for some of its members. That was enough for investors to raise their bets that the Bank will raise interest rates sooner than initially forecast.
The Euro to GBP exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8113 .
The MPC voted unanimously to leave interest rates on hold for the time being at the record low-level of 0.5%.
The Euro meanwhile weakened despite a report released earlier in the session showing that the Eurozone’s current account balance surplus increased from €13.9 billion to €20.9 billion in March. The figure was better than the €20.0 billion forecast by economists.
The Euro is likely to fall further against the Pound as Eurozone consumer confidence data due later in the session is likely to show a decline as a result of concerns over the situation in Ukraine and last week’s poor GDP data.
Euro Exchange Rate News:
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Euro,
,US Dollar,1.3713 ,
Euro,,British Pound,0.8113 ,
Euro,,Australian Dollar,1.4852 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4942 ,
[/table]
