- Manufacturing data published out of UK showed improvement in the manufacturing sector. Markit manufacturing PMI reported growth at 54.1 compared to previous 53.1.
- Detailed report showed that growth rates and output both have strengthened and growth in domestic market remained solid.
- Cost of production reduced further as benefits from lower commodity prices have started to sip in.
- Nevertheless weakness was seen in output prices which will further raise doubt on inflation.
- Stronger pound compared to many of its peers, especially the Euro zone countries have finally started to be felt in new export orders, as they have slipped further.
- Despite the strong manufacturing data, morning's release of National house price index showed weaker increase at 5.7 percent YoY compared to 6.8 percent previous. On a monthly basis house prices fell by 0.1 percent after consecutive rise of four months.
With the rebound in manufacturing the rate rise hope by BOE will get a boost. This in turn will help pound to stand ground better against dollar, compared to other majors and commodity pairs as Fed Reserve gets closer to hike rates. Pound is currently trading at 1.541 against the dollar. Pound today has strengthened 0.35 percent against Euro and 0.17 percent against Yen.