GBP News

An index measuring consumer confidence in the United Kingdom came in at -5 in March, the latest survey from GfK revealed on Friday.

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The U.K. construction sector expanded for the eleventh month in a row in March, survey data from Markit Economics showed Wednesday.

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A leading index for the U.K. economy signaled that the recovery is set to continue in coming months, but further acceleration in the pace seems unlikely, the Conference Board said Friday.

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U.K. house prices rose to a record high due to the lack of property coming for sale in April, data from the property tracking website Rightmove showed Monday. Asking prices increased at a pace of 7.3 percent year-on-year in April, the highest since October 2007 and takes it back to pre-credit crunch levels. This follows a 6.8 percent rise reported for March.

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Like-For-Like sales in the United Kingdom tumbled 1.7 percent on year in March, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday - falling into the red for the second straight month.

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U.K. retail sales unexpectedly rose for a second straight month in March, suggesting that consumer spending is set to lead the economic recovery that is gaining momentum. Retail sales including automotive fuel rose 0.1 percent month-on-month, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. That followed a 1.3 percent gain in February, which was revised down from 1.7 percent.

GBPUSD M5 : 30 pips price movement by GBP - Retail Sales news event :

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The average asking price for a house in the United Kingdom was up 0.6 percent on month in April, property tracking website Hometrack said on Monday - unchanged from the March reading.

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British service sector grew at the fastest pace thus far this year during April, as increased activity and new business as well as better future prospects prompted firms to hire aggressively, survey data from Markit Economics showed Tuesday.

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(Reuters) - The Bank of England kept interest rates at a record low on Thursday, despite signs that Britain's economic recovery is picking up more speed and that house prices are rising strongly.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee left its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent where it has sat since the depths of the financial crisis more than five years ago.

It also kept unchanged its 375 billion pound ($636 billion) stockpile of government bonds which it amassed in recent years in an attempt to get the economy moving again.

The MPC made no statement on Thursday. It is due to announce a new set of quarterly economic forecasts next Wednesday when BoE Governor Mark Carney will hold a news conference.

Britain is likely to grow faster than any other Group of Seven economy this year, and expectations are building that the BoE might raise borrowing costs sooner than it has signaled.

The pound hit its highest level against the dollar in nearly five years this week.

Bets in markets are largely on a first increase in the first quarter of 2015. The BoE hinted in February that the second quarter of next year was the most likely timeframe but since then growth data has come in stronger than expected, although inflation has fallen to a four-year low of 1.6 percent.

This week's MPC meeting was the first since unemployment fell below the 7 percent level it set last August as a threshold for considering a rate hike. In February, as unemployment fell much faster than the BoE had expected, it linked its thinking on rates to the amount of spare capacity in the economy.

Investors will be watching for the Bank's fresh assessment of how quickly slack in the economy is being run down when it releases its quarterly forecasts on Wednesday.

Adding to pressure on the Bank over interest rates is the surge in Britain house prices.

Data on Thursday provided the latest signs that the market has lost a bit of its heat recently. Nonetheless, an 8.5 percent annual rise in house prices underscored its strength.

The BoE has stressed it will take measures to control credit as a first line of defense against the risk of a housing bubble, rather than raise interest rates. The Bank's Financial Policy Committee is due to meet on June 17.

Source : Reuters.com

(Reuters) - British factory output grew at its fastest pace for a calendar quarter in nearly 15 years during the first three months of 2014, official data showed on Friday, in news likely to support hopes that the economy is rebalancing.

The Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing output grew by 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2014, up from 0.9 percent in the three months to February.

This was the strongest growth for a three month period since October 2010, and the best calendar quarter since the third quarter of 1999, as the sector recovers from a steep slump after the financial crisis.

Manufacturing has lagged behind other sectors of the economy, and is still 7.6 percent below its level in the first quarter of 2008, when overall economic output peaked.

But the ONS revised down its estimate for growth of the broader industrial sector to 0.7 percent from the 0.8 percent pencilled into first-quarter gross domestic product estimates published late last month.

But the revision, when combined with an upward revision to quarterly construction output, would have only a negligible effect on first-quarter GDP overall, the ONS said.

Industrial output slipped 0.1 percent on the month in March slightly less than forecasts of a 0.2 percent decline, the Office for National Statistics said.

The economy grew 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2014.

Figures also released by the ONS on Friday showed that Britain's trade deficit in goods narrowed in March.

Source : reuters.com