British pound inches up as UK surge is revised up

On Friday, the British pound soared reacting to the publication of better-than-anticipated surge figures for the first quarter, which undoubtedly spurs chances of a rate lift in August.

The currency pair GBP/USD managed to tack on by 0.50% being worth 1.3143.

On Thursday, in the face of household debt as well as Brexit worries, the UK currency slipped to 1.3055, which happens to be its weakest value since November 2017.

On Friday, the British Office for National Statistics published its final reading of UK gross domestic product for the first quarter of 2018 demonstrating 0.2%% surge quarter-over-quarter. Market experts had hoped for sluggish surge of 0.1%.

As a matter of fact, the UK GDP surged by up to 1.2% in the first quarter year-over-year. The given outcome is generally in line with hopes of market participants. Year-over-year previous quarter surge was updated upwards to 1.3% from 1.2%.

The Bank of England foresees surge for the second quarter of about 0.4%. By the way, Q2 GDP will be issued by the ONS on August 10.

At £17.7 billion, today’s account deficit surpassed forecasts, demonstrating the lowest value for a year.

The revision in Q1 surge happened to be in line with remarks from the BoE that first quarter data often undergoes revision. The upward update spurs the probability that Britain’s key financial institution is going to have its rates lifted at its August gathering to 60% from 50%.

The British pound was also underpinned by more upbeat comments from the EU leaders, attending the summit in Brussels.

The UK currency tacked on versus other key currencies, adding up to 0.55% hitting 27 versus the Japanese yen.

Market participants are going to monitor the EU Leaders Summit for further details on Brexit.