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Speculators wait for Bank annoucements
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UK Construction PMI moves closer to 50.00
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EU hammer out deal with Greece
FX markets are very much in a holding pattern at the moment until the massive event risk we have to endure on Thursday and Friday is done with.
While sterling data was positive yesterday fears over an increase in quantitative easing will keep pound somewhat depressed. Construction PMI returned a figure of 48.6, gradually shifting towards the crucial 50 level; we have the services sector version at 09.30 GMT.
The euro has rebounded a little bit over the previous few days. This is for 2 reasons; firstly a return to risk shown by 3 days of equity market gains and secondly due to a belief that a treatment for the ‘Greek Problem’ is just round the corner. Overnight Brussels has announced that it has accepted the Greek proposals put to it by PM Papandreou. These detail how they plan to reduce the whacking great big budget deficit and eliminate the statistical nightmare that, according to reports, allowed EUR 40bn to be hidden. How the market swallows it will become clear in today’s trade.
Data has already been good for the pound overnight; Nationwide consumer confidence showed a 3 point increase to 73. Nationwide put this down to increases in positivity in the manufacturing sector and the labour market. Apart from that and the aforementioned Services PMI today we have the same measure from the EU (09.00) and US (15.00) plus EU Retail Sales (10.00) and ADP employment change from the US (13.15)
Latest Exchange Rates At Time Of Writing
| Indicative Rates | Sell | Buy |
| GBP/EUR | 1.1459 | 1.1485 |
| GBP/USD | 1.6023 | 1.6047 |
| EUR/USD | 1.3967 | 1.3988 |
| GBP/JPY | 144.58 | 144.85 |
| GBP/AUD | 1.8043 | 1.8069 |
| GBP/NZD | 2.251 | 2.2541 |
| GBP/CAD | 1.6931 | 1.6964 |
| NZD/USD | 0.7111 | 0.7131 |
| GBP/ZAR | 11.9 | 11.95 |
| USD/ZAR | 7.4168 | 7.4525 |
| GBP/PLN | 4.54 | 4.5678 |
| EUR/JPY | 126 | 126.25 |
