Good news for the UK: retail sales continued rising in March, by 0.1%, better than expected. Core sales dropped by 0.4%, also slightly better than expected. UK retail sales were expected to drop 0.4% in March after a surprising jump of 1.7% in February. Core sales (ex-fuel) carried expectations for a drop of 0.5%. Year over year, a rise of 3.8% was expected in the headline figure and the actual number is 4.2%. It is important to note that February’s rise was revised to the downside, only 1.3% now. However, the overall y/y rise is still better than expected, and so is the most recent figure.
GBP/USD was slipping below 1.68 just before the release. The pair shot higher to 1.6828 before stabilizing above 1.68.– updates coming —
The BBA Mortgage Approvals number for March was also released at the same time. It was predicted to to tick up from 47.6K to 48.9K.
Last month’s retail sales release triggered a nice pound rally.
Clear resistance appears at 1.6841, the recent multi-year high. Support is at 1.6772. For more, see the GBPUSD forecast.
