The Pound Sterling to Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate weakened to its lowest level in 3-days as UK consumer confidence was shown to have eased in May. The Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate also softened.
The Pound Sterling to Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate fell to a session low of 189.200
The Japanese Yen gained ground against a number of major peers including the US Dollar on Friday as the currency received support from a slew of domestic economic data releases. Data on spending, prices, jobs and industrial output all came in positively, suggesting that the Asian economy is making a recovery.
Industrial production was shown to have increased by 1% on a month-on-month basis, beating economist expectations for a gain of 0.8%. The rise was the first seen in three months. Consumer price inflation in the nation increased 0.3% on a yearly basis. Unemployment also improved with the overall jobless rate easing from 3.4% to 3.3% in April.
Taking some of the shine off the mostly positive data was household spending, which was shown to have tumbled by 5.5% on a monthly basis in April.
The data was enough to send the Japanese Yen higher against a number of its major peers.
The Pound Sterling meanwhile softened against a number of peers as an index measuring consumer confidence eased from the 12-year high recorded in April. The report compiled by GfK showed that all five measures of the index contributed negatively.
The consumer confidence index fell +4 to +1. The fall took economists by a surprise as they had been expecting an unchanged figure.
‘In the longer term, we seem to be in another of the periods of stasis that the index goes through from time to time. Of the last 13 months, the index has been within two points either side of 0 on all but three of them,’ said Nick Moon, Managing Director at GfK.
Other surveys of British consumer confidence released this week have painted a more upbeat picture than the GfK report.
The Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate slipped to a session low of 1.9967
The Australian Dollar received support from data showing that annual new home sales rose to their highest level in more than five years. Sales were shown to have increased 0.6% in April, a slowdown from the sharp rise of 4.4% seen in the preceding month.
“The profile for new home sales in 2015 is consistent with a new home building cycle where further upward momentum resides largely in the ‘multi-unit’ sector and where the eastern seaboard states are driving the further growth,” said HIA chief economist, Harley Dale.
The Australian Dollar could make further gains if upcoming US GDP data disappoints.
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