Forex - GBP/USD rises on upbeat U.K. mortgage approvals
Investing.com
Published Mar 25, 2015 06:03AM ET
Pound gains ground against dollar after U.K. data beats estimates
Investing.com - The pound rose against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after upbeat U.K. mortgage approvals data, although the greenback remained mildly supported by hopes for a near-term U.S. rate hike.
GBP/USD hit 1.4896 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4888, gaining 0.27%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4720, the low of March 20 and resistance at 1.5012, the high of March 19.
In a report, the British Banker's Association said that the number of new mortgages approved increased to a five-month high of 37,300 last month from January’s total of 36,400. Analysts had expected the number of new mortgages approved to rise to 36,900 in February.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after official data on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% in February, rebounding after a 0.7% decline in January. On a year-over-year basis the U.S. consumer price index was flat after slipping 0.2% in January.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs ticked up 0.2% in February after a similar gain in January. Core inflation was up 1.7% from the same month last year, the largest increase since November.
The uptick in underlying inflation indicated that the Federal Reserve would still have leeway to tighten monetary policy even with inflation running below target.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams said Tuesday that the bank should start raising rates earlier and added that the fall in energy prices and the stronger dollar would only have a short term impact on inflation.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7360.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on durable goods orders.
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Written By: Investing.com
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