The British pound is higher against the euro on Monday.
Sterling was on the rise as Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister returned to work at No.10 Downing Street having recovered from the coronavirus.
The euro was under pressure with market participants looking ahead to this Thursday’s ECB meeting where there is a building expectation that quantitative easing (QE) will be expanded.
Pound to Euro was higher by 47 pips (+0.41%) to 1.1467 as of 3pm GMT.
GBP/EUR took out resistance at 1.145 but wasn’t able to build up much progress beyond that and the price rise fell well short of 1.15.
GBP: Boris Johnson offers no details on lockdown easing
The returning Prime Minister was hedging his bets on plans to ease the UK lockdown in his first speech in front of 10 Downing Street for almost a month. “This is the moment of opportunity, this is the moment when we can press home our advantage, it is also the moment of maximum risk.”
As it stands, the UK will ease off on some restrictions to the stay home order on May 7, three weeks after Foreign Secretary and stand-in Prime Minister Dominic Raab extended the lockdown on April 16. That is slightly later than some countries in Europe, though roughly in line with some of the worst hit. Italy will ease its own lockdown in a “phase two” three days earlier on May 4.
EUR: Markets look to ECB as European lockdowns ease
Falling virus cases and the easing of lockdown measures across various European countries have bolstered the euro of late, although it is down versus a strong Sterling on Monday.
Spain has reported the lowest number of new coronavirus cases in 7 weeks and the lowest number of deaths in a month. France and Germany too reported the lowest COVID-19 death toll in a month.
Some of the optimism over the reopening of economies has been capped by caution before Thursday’s ECB meeting. There is speculation the central bank will need to ease policy further after politicians failed to come up with a coordinated fiscal response in Europe.
