Wednesday, pound has held below seven-month highs versus the dollar, brushing off large positive construction data, as well as initial round of posturing Britain and the European Union over Brexit negotiations. The pound barely budged after the numbers, trading close to levels seen before the data. Sterling was 0.2% lower at $1.2910, not far off a seven-month high of $1.2965 hit on the last trading day of April.
IG Markets, market analyst: Christopher Beauchamp said that: “The problem with the construction PMI is it’s always the little brother of the three (monthly PMI surveys) in terms of its importance to the UK economy.” Which refers to the construction PMI that shows Britain’s construction industry, touching a four-month high in April failed to have an impact on sterling compared with Tuesday’s manufacturing data, which had given the currency a boost.
The pound briefly dipped about 40 ticks during a speech by the British Prime Minister: Theresa May on Wednesday in which she accused European politicians and officials seeking to affect the outcome of the June 8 national election, by issuing threats over Brexit. And in accordance to this event, pound sterling largely brushed off headlines over the size of Britain’s European Union exit bill.
Brexit minister, David Dais said that Britain would not pay 100 billion euros to leave the European Union. This came a day after the British Prime Minister: Theresa May promised the European Union officials, that things won’t be easy, after being accused of underestimating the complexity of the Brexit negotiations and having illusions over a deal.