NEWS / Foreign Exchange

the pound was unchanged against the dollar on Friday

After edging lower on Thursday, the pound was unchanged against the dollar on Friday following a mixed set of March UK retail sales figures. Volumes rose a modest 0.3% on the month, but February??™s initially reported 1.4% gain was revised up to 1.6%. Nevertheless, in the first quarter as a whole, sales were up just 0.4%, a pronounced deceleration compared with the 1.1% increase seen in Q4. This suggests consumer demand will have slowed in Q1. Even so, the pound still ended the week a full 1% higher.

However, the pound still managed to creep 0.1% higher against the euro, as the detail of the figures suggested the long period of deflation on the high street might be coming to an end.

Consequently, the euro slipped 0.1% against the dollar.

Following the excitement on Thursday, the yen gave back some of its gains, easing 0.4% against the dollar. However, this still left the Japanese currency up 0.4% for the week.

Similarly, the yen also 0.3% against the euro.

Meanwhile, mirroring the yen, the Swiss franc gave back some of its recent gains against the dollar. However, it ended the week up a net 0.6% against the greenback.