The pound sterling moved higher against its two main rivals during London trade on Wednesday as Forex traders dismiss the latest economic news from the UK. Instead, they appear to be re-focused on April's widespread planned reopening of many shops across the nation. The UK's Office of National Statistics reported that the economy grew at a faster pace than analysts had anticipated with 4th quarter GDP rising 1.3% against an expected 1% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. On a year-on-year basis, the numbers came out at -7.3, with analysts expecting the numbers to be flat at -7.8%. Total business investment for the quarter was also unexpectedly higher at 5.9%, with 1.3% expected in the recent poll of experts.
In London trading as of 11:16 am, the GBP/USD was trading at $1.3778, a gain of 0.2926%, off the session high of $1.37953, while the low was recorded at $1.37157. The EUR/GBP was at 0.8512 pence, down 0.1666%; the pair has ranged from a trough of 0.85062 pence to a high of 0.85406 pence.
A Look Ahead to Manufacturing Sector PMIs
Looking ahead at fundamentals, markets will be watching for the release of March PMI reports for the various manufacturing sectors across the Eurozone. At present, the latest poll of analysts shows that the consensus expects to see unchanged readings for the two largest economies, namely Germany and France, while Italy and Spain should see a fair uptick in the numbers. Looking across the Atlantic to the US, the ISM Manufacturing PMI should show a slight rise to 61.3 in March from 60.8 in the previous month. Market players will also be looking at US labor data, specifically claims for unemployment benefits, which will be released tomorrow.