Sterling rises after UK inflation data and ahead of Fed
By Linda Pasquini
LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) -The British pound rose against the dollar on Wednesday after UK inflation data boosted the market view that the Bank of England will keep interest rates steady on Thursday, in contrast with an expected start to the U.S. policy easing cycle later on Wednesday.
Sterling GBP=D3 gained 0.49% to $1.3227, a session high, recouping Tuesday's losses.
The Bank of England is widely anticipated to keep interest rates at 5% on Thursday, after official figures showed inflation stood at an annual rate of 2.2% in August, unchanged from July, despite a pick up in price growth in the services sector.
Meanwhile, industry data showed British supermarket sales growth slowed over the last month as consumers trimmed spending after their summer holidays.
"Looking through the Bank of England's range of underlying services measures, we still see some marginal improvement in the data despite the uptick in the headline services measure, with underlying inflation continuing to ease. This is good news for the MPC," said Sanjay Raja, Chief UK Economist at Deutsche Bank, referring to the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee.
"That said, today's data won't be enough to trigger a surprise rate cut tomorrow," Raja added.
Futures markets now imply a smaller chance of a quarter point cut, at 26%, versus about 38% at the beginning of the week.
"Sterling looks pretty strong," said ING currency strategist Francesco Pesole, adding euro-sterling was not likely to jump back to 85 pence for now.
The euro slipped 0.25% against the pound EURGBP=D3 to 84.235 pence.
"We are still expecting a bit of a weaker year end for sterling," if the BoE starts moving a bit faster with rate cuts, Pesole said.
Looking past the MPC decision on Thursday, markets are wagering on 50 basis points of cuts in total from now until the end of the year.
The BoE cut rates by a quarter of a point last month.
Slow steady progress in reducing inflation "ought to still justify a gradualist approach" in easing monetary policy, analysts at Lloyds Bank wrote in a note.
"Arguably what the Fed does and says today matters at least as much for the November MPC outcome as what the MPC says tomorrow," they said.
The Federal Reserve is expected to make its first interest rate cut in more than four years at 1800 GMT, with markets pricing a 65% probability of a 50 basis point cut. FEDWATCH
The European Central Bank cut rates by 25 basis points last week.
Reporting by Linda Pasquini
Editing by Mark Potter
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
