GBP EUR Rate Gains On Weak Eurozone Retail Sales Data

Published: Friday, 5 April 2013 14:00 BST - Written by Toni Johnson

STORY LINK GBP EUR Rate Gains On Weak Eurozone Retail Sales Data

The Pound to Euro exchange rate (currency : GBP EUR) has crept higher during today’s session in the global currency markets. The move upwards towards 1.1800 was initiated by this morning’s Halifax House Price survey, which showed that UK property prices have continued to edge higher during the first three months of 2013. The survey showed an increase of some 1.1% in comparison with the first quarter of 2012. The news provides the UK’s coalition government with some grounds for optimism; with a British election taking place at an unspecified date in the next two years, the nation’s Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will be hoping that the measures to boost the UK’s housing sector which he announced during last month’s budget statement, in combination with today’s encouraging news, may spur a British housing boom.

Meanwhile, whole of eurozone retail sales data for February, released earlier today, provided less ground for encouragement. The official Eurostat figures revealed a year-on-year plunge of 1.4% in shop sales in the debt-burdened region. The single currency struggled in the wake of the figures, and a move above the 1.1800 level now appears possible in the near-term for GBP EUR.

Elsewhere, last night’s Asian session saw Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index close at its highest level since 2008. The move higher was attributable to yesterday’s announcement from the Bank of Japan that it was set to massively expand the nation’s existing stimulus package. The BoJ announced that it would be doubling its asset purchase scheme, meaning that an extra £350bn would be released into Japan’s economic system on an annual basis. Predictably, Japanese equities traders reacted with glee, triggering intraday increases of almost 5% for Japanese share markets. The Pound Yen exchange rate (currency : GBP JPY) climbed by a similar amount.

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