A combination of factors helped to push the Pound Sterling higher during London trade on Thursday. First, overall weakness in the US Dollar, second was upbeat retail sales figure which unexpectedly came in stronger than anticipated, and third, there is a growing optimism that a way forward will be found in regard to the Brexit. The UK Office of National Statistics earlier reported a reading of 3.3% for August's retail sales figures (year-over-year), up from the 2.3% that had been predicted, with July's numbers also being revised upward to 3.8% (from 3.5%).
As reported at 10:57 am (BST) in London, the GBP/USD was trading higher at $1.32, up 0.47% and sliding from the session peak of $1.3217 while the low is recorded at $1.3135. The EUR/GBP is trading at 0.88623 Pence, down 0.22%; the pair ranged from 0.88543 Pence to 0.88903 Pence in today's session.
Brexit Talks Move Forward
While data is helping keep the Pound propped up in the short term, the Brexit negotiations remain in the background. However, encouraging news coming from the British government is providing reason for optimism. The Cabinet Minister said earlier today that he believed that the UK government was better than 85% of the way to making a deal with the EU negotiators. While at the EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, the Prime Minister has also urged those negotiators to reconsider certain conditions which she calls unacceptable.