The pound rose above $1.32 on Friday after stronger-than-expected manufacturing data. Output in the sector grew by 0.5% in July, boosted by car production Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Closing summary
Before we close up for the day, let’s take a look at how European markets are performing. It’s a fairly mixed bag:
- Germany’s DAX: +0.1% at 12,306
- France’s CAC: -0.1% at 5,107
- Italy’s FTSE MIB: +0.3% at 21,780
- Spain’s IBEX: flat at 10,125
- Europe’s STOXX 600: flat at 375
The pound has held on to gains against the dollar – boosted by stronger than expected manufacturing – and is still above $1.32.
Sterling is also doing well against the euro, up 0.7% at €1.0968.
The euro meanwhile is just about holding on above the $1.20 mark, but the earlier gains have eased.
A flurry of data from the ONS painted a mixed picture of the UK economy in July. Manufacturing growth was stronger than expected, but construction output suffered a bigger fall than forecast.
At this point, economists think UK growth will pick-up slightly in the third quarter overall, to about 0.4% from 0.3% in the second quarter.
That’s it for today. Thank you for reading the blog and for all your comments. Have a lovely weekend, and please do join us again on Monday. AM
[“Source-theguardian”]
