The Sterling retreated from September highs against the US dollar, following the report showing a slowdown in the UK building business. The GBP/USD currency pair kept falling gradually to 1.3500 level.
The UK construction sector's expansion weakened in December for the first time in four months, as slow growth in commercial and house-building came in with stagnating infrastructure activities, a survey indicated. The Markit/CIPS stated that Britain's construction PMI decreased to 52.2 in December, after being seen at the five-month high of 53.1 in the prior month. Meanwhile, the country's services PMI is scheduled for Thursday to determine whether the economic growth lost momentum in the 2017 end and how Brexit weighed on expansion.
| Historical Data Table: UK Construction PMI | Economic Calendar for 04.01.2017 | ||||||||
| Date | 04.09.2017 | 03.10.2017 | 11.02.2017 | 04.12.2017 | 03.01.2018 | 9:30 AM | UK Services PMI | ||
| Actual | 51.1 | 48.1 | 50.8 | 53.1 | 52.2 | 1:15 PM | ADP Non-Farm Employment Change | ||
| Forecast | 51.9 | 51.1 | 48.3 | 51.2 | 51.1 | 2:45 PM | US Services PMI | ||
| Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | SWFX Sentiment Indexes | ||||||||
| Open Price | Close Price | % Change | Longs | Shorts | |||||
| GBP/USD | 1.35938 | 1.3588 | -0.04% | GBP/USD | 49.95% | 50.05% | |||
| EUR/GBP | 0.88575 | 0.88602 | 0.03% | EUR/GBP | 41.03% | 58.97% | |||
| GBP/CAD | 1.70158 | 1.70135 | -0.01% | GBP/CAD | 57.69% | 42.31% | |||
| GBP/JPY | 152.693 | 152.629 | -0.04% | GBP/JPY | 43.45% | 56.55% | |||