Pound Slumps Across The Board On Unexpected Fall In Retail Sales, Friday, May 18, 2007 6:22:25 AM

The British pound fell heavily across the board early Friday in New York. The fall was due to surprisingly weak retail sales data from the UK.

Month-over-month, the retail sales declined and expanded 4.2% from a year ago period compared to the expected increase of 4.7%. On month, the market expectation was a rise of 0.6%.

The British currency trended higher against the US dollar during ahead of the retail sales data early Friday in New York. Moving up from 1.9737, the pair fetched as high as 1.9778 shortly before the data release. The data weakened the pair heavily and hit as low as 1.9712 at 5:00 am ET. Thereafter, the sterling moved sideways against the buck. Largely speaking, the pair has been on its way down after it moved out of 2.0135 on 18th April, and is likely heading to a support level near 1.96.

The European currency was slightly down against the pound during the very early deals on Friday in New York. Deals around then were likely influenced by the German producer prices and the Italian industrial turnover data. However, the British retail sales data that came out at 4:30 am ET, helped the pair to stage a sharp surge, as the sates printed numbers far softer than expected. Rising from 0.6826, the euro fetched 0.6849 at 5:05 am, but has weakened slightly, later. As of 6:00 am ET, the pair collected 0.6842. For a pair moving higher, hitting 0.687 will breach a 2-month high, and the next key resistance level will be one around 0.691.

The British currency saw choppy trading against the Japanese yen during the very early deals on Friday in New York. The pair however, gained ground around 2:50 am ET, and climbing from 239.30, the pound equaled as high as 239.89 yen shortly before the retail sales data. However, since the beginning of the month, the sterling has been challenging a long term resistance by hovering slightly below the 241 mark hit on 23rd of January.

The pound moved sideways between 2.4215 and 2.4250 against the Swiss franc during the very early deals on Friday in New York. The pair weakened at 4:30 am ET amid the release of the British retail sales data. This made the sterling hit as low as 2.4160 francs by about 5:10 am. Of late, the pair picked up a few pips, and was quoted at 2.4192 at 6:00 am ET. Recent deals made the sterling give back its gains collected on Thursday.

Copyright © 2007 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved.