The British Pound strengthened against the Greenback, following the UK Retail Sales data release on Thursday. The GBP/USD currency pair gained 25 pips, or 0.19%, to continue fluctuating in the 1.3435 area.
The Office for National Statistics released Retail Sales data that came out better-than-expected of 1.3%, compared to the forecast of 0.5% in May, but lower from the previous period.
The initial reaction from this news on the main pairs was the rise of the British pound against the Canadian Dollar and Japanese Yen, but caused the downwards movement against the Eurozone's single currency. The reason mentioned by an analyst is the Royal Wedding, which boosted the sales.
Historical Data Table: UK Retail Sales m/m | Economic Calendar for 14.06.2018 | ||||||||
Date | 16.02.2018 | 22.03.2018 | 19.04.2018 | 24.05.2018 | 14.06.2018 | 12:30 PM | US Core Retail Sales m/m | ||
Actual | -0.20% | 0.80% | -1.20% | 1.60% | 1.30% | 12:30 PM | EU ECB Press Conference | ||
Forecast | 0.50% | 0.40% | -0.50% | 0.80% | 0.50% | 12:30 PM | US Unemployment Claims | ||
Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | SWFX Sentiment Indexes | ||||||||
Open Price | Close Price | % Change | Longs | Shorts | |||||
GBP/USD | 1.34033 | 1.34301 | 0.20% | GBP/USD | 36.38% | 63.62% | |||
EUR/GBP | 0.88158 | 0.88005 | -0.17% | EUR/GBP | 27.92% | 72.08% | |||
GBP/CAD | 1.73791 | 1.74144 | 0.20% | GBP/CAD | 68.76% | 31.24% | |||
GBP/JPY | 147.439 | 147.744 | 0.21% | GBP/JPY | 36.12% | 63.88% |