Battered sterling gets respite but set for weekly fall vs dollar

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Lucy Raitanop

pLONDON Reuters – Britains pound edged up against the dollar on Friday, offering some respite from a week of selling that pushed the currency to twoyear lows.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pBy 0835 GMT, the pound was up 0.21 at 1.2216, a day after falling to a fresh twoyear low of 1.2165 as a slew of data pointed to a weakening British economy. p

pKenneth Broux, European currency strategist at Societe Generale, said that while sterling was enjoying a respite, he wouldnt read too much into any currency gains. p

p“We‘ve had quite bad GDP data from March, and the stagflationary backdrop for the UK is not really great, then you’ve got tension boiling over in Northern Ireland over the Protocol,” he said, p

pSenior British politicians want to overhaul the agreement on trade between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom that they signed up to in order to get Brexit done. They have warned they might have to take unilateral action.p

pData on Thursday showed Britains economy unexpectedly shrank 0.1 in March after a slump in car sales due to supplychain problems. p

pThat has exacerbated concerns about a weakening growth outlook that could slow the Bank of Englands ratehiking cycle and battered the pound. p

pWhile sterling is up against the dollar for the first time in over a week, the currency was heading for a fourth straight week of falls. p

p“The way ahead looks likely to remain very uneven for the pound,” ING currency strategists said in a note.p

pAnd sterling was lower against the euro, down almost a fifth of a percent at 85.24 pence. p

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pp Reporting by Lucy Raitano Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Emelia SitholeMatarisep

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