The Great Britain pound rose today against the US dollar after a report showed that confidence of Britons unexpectedly improved last month, muting speculations about quantitative easing from the Bank of England. The currency was down against the Japanese yen.
Nationwide Building Society reported that the index of consumer confidence rose to 53 in March from 44 in February. The median forecast was 42. The report warned that the improvement of sentiment may be short-lived. Nevertheless, analysts started to speculate that the BoE would refrain from stimulating the economy. Tomorrow’s report from GfK is also expected to show an improvement of confidence.
GBP/USD climbed from 1.6162 to 1.6207 before trading at 1.6184 as of 11:45 GMT today. GBP/JPY fell from 131.47 to 130.96.