The British pound rose on Tuesday, reaching its highest level in one year. The pounds ended the day at levels around 1.3295, an increase of over 0.8% for the day. The British currency gained momentum from strong economic data that was published earlier in the day. Investors and analysts were mostly focused on inflation data.
The UK Consumer Price Index for August reported an increase of 2.9% yoy, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous figure of 2.6%. Thus, inflation in the country exceeded significantly the 2% target set by the Central Bank of England. Now, the institution will face the complicated decision whether to raise the country’s main interest rate.
The dollar ended the day without major changes against major currencies. The dollar index measuring the change of the US currency against the basket of six major currencies declined slightly by 0.02% to 91.84 points. The latest data from the US Department of Labor showed improvement in newly created jobs. Published data show that newly created locations in the month of July reached 6.2 million compared to the forecasts of experts for growth of 5.96 million.
Gold ended the trading session at about $ 1,330.10 an ounce, after falling to $ 1,322.15 earlier this day, the lowest since September 1. Futures with a delivery term in December were traded without a major change for the day at $ 1,332.70.
Since the beginning of the week, noble metal has lost 1.4% of its value. Quietness around North Korea and the weakening of Hurricane Irma led to the worst result for the yellow metal in a week. At the same time, SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold-traded fund, announced on Monday that its stock has grown by 1.2 tons. The other precious metals had mixed movements. Silver rose 0.4 percent to $ 17.87 an ounce, while platinum fell by nearly half a percent,
Oil rose during yesterday’s trade, backed by recent data showing that the production of OPEC countries declined in August. For the past month, oil cartel yields have fallen by 79,000 to 32.76 million barrels. Many analysts estimate that demand for oil and petroleum products will increase by 1.35 million to 98.12 million barrels.
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said that expectations of growth in demand for black gold in the second half of the year would help to curb surplus supply. However, oil appreciation was limited in view of the US oil inventory, which will be published later today. Futures of US light crude oil with a delivery term in October rose 16 cents to 48.23 dollars a barrel. Brent’s variety grew 39 cents a day, closing at $54.23
