This morning saw the pound start the year on the front foot, after the UK Manufacturing PMI reading came in higher than forecast and helped Sterling rise across the board.
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Figures produced by Markit showed that growth in the manufacturing sector had risen at its fastest pace since the middle of 2014, with the PMI reading coming in at 56.0, against a predicted level of 53.3 (a reading over 50.0 indicates growth).
The news gave the pound a much needed boost and helped the GBP/USD cross rise nearly half a cent from $1.2250 to $1.23. However, as you can see from the graph below, the gains were short-lived, with the currency pair slipping back towards $1.22 after the U.S. published their own positive manufacturing figures.
GBP/USD graph.
This afternoons stronger than expected manufacturing reading from the U.S has helped the dollar carry on from where it left of in 2016, rising against a basket of currencies. On the back of this afternoons data the EUR/USD cross fell to back to 1.0347, the lowest we have for fourteen years.
EUR/USD graph
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