The Halifax HPI reports caused a short-lived bullish reversal in the Sterling against the US Dollar. The pair added 9 base points, though continued to decline further, reaching the 1.3900 area.
The UK house prices declined surprisingly last months, as consumer inflation kept squeezing household budgets, putting the yearly house price growth to the lowest level in years, the Halifax release showed on Wednesday. Average home prices decreased 0.6% in the month of January, after being 0.8% down in the prior month. Britain's annual growth of house prices kept slowing since the vote to quit the European Union, nut the impact concentrated in the area of the City of London and its neighbouring sites.
Historical Data Table: Halifax HPI m/m | Economic Calendar for 08.02.2018 | ||||||||
Date | 06.10.2017 | 07.11.2017 | 07.12.2017 | 08.01.2017 | 07.02.2017 | 12:00 PM | BoE Interest Rate Decision | ||
Actual | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.5% | –0.8% | –0.6% | 12:00 PM | BoE Inflation Report | ||
Forecast | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 1:30 PM | Canada NHPI m/m | ||
Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | SWFX Sentiment Indexes | ||||||||
Open Price | Close Price | % Change | Longs | Shorts | |||||
GBP/USD | 1.39327 | 1.39414 | 0.06% | GBP/USD | 58.34% | 41.66% | |||
EUR/GBP | 0.88796 | 0.8878 | -0.02% | EUR/GBP | 27.50% | 72.50% | |||
GBP/CAD | 1.74326 | 1.74459 | 0.08% | GBP/CAD | 43.50% | 56.50% | |||
GBP/JPY | 151.876 | 151.996 | 0.08% | GBP/JPY | 36.88% | 63.12% |