The British Pound weakened against the US Dollar, following the United Kingdom Construction PMI release on Tuesday at 08:30 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate lost 18 pips or 0.14% at the time of the release. The British Pound kept going downwards after the data release to continue trading at the 1.2825 area.
The Markit released Manufacturing PMI data came lower-than-expected. Namely, it was 52.9, compared with the forecast of 54.9.
Tim Moore, Senior Economist at IHS Markit and author of the Markit/CIPS Construction PMI, noted: "Civil engineering was the worst performing area of the construction sector, with output in this category falling for the first time since March amid reports citing a lack of new work on infrastructure projects. House building saw a particularly sharp slowdown since July, meaning that commercial construction was the fastest growing sub-sector in August."
| Historical Data Table: Construction PMI | Economic Calendar for 05.09.2018 | ||||||||
| Date | 04.04.2018 | 02.05.2018 | 04.06.2018 | 03.07.2018 | 04.09.2018 | 08:30AM | UK Services PMI | ||
| Actual | 47 | 52.5 | 52.5 | 53.1 | 52.9 | 12:30 PM | CAD Trade Balance | ||
| Forecast | 50.9 | 50.5 | 52 | 52.6 | 54.9 | 14:00 PM | CAD BOC Rate Statement | ||
| Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | SWFX Sentiment Indexes | ||||||||
| Open Price | Close Price | % Change | Longs | Shorts | |||||
| GBP/USD | 1.28372 | 1.28198 | -0.14% | GBP/USD | 58.85% | 41.15% | |||
| EUR/GBP | 0.90091 | 0.90161 | 0.08% | EUR/GBP | 29.19% | 70.81% | |||
| GBP/CAD | 1.68712 | 1.68513 | -0.12% | GBP/CAD | 74.23% | 25.77% | |||
| GBP/JPY | 143.135 | 142.966 | -0.12% | GBP/JPY | 51.90% | 48.10% | |||