GBP/INR is bullish in early trading on Tuesday, after tumbling over 1.20% yesterday to break below 97.000 for the first time since the end of July. At the time of writing, one British pound buys 97.337 Indian rupees, up 0.47% as of 6:45 AM UTC.
Last week, the pair surged to the highest level in over four years, breaking above 99.000. The pound rallied amid some cautious optimism over UK-EU trade talks after a British official hinted a deal might be possible by the end of September. The topic made the headlines as another round of negotiations started last Tuesday.
At the end of the week, the sterling has benefited from a series of positive data pointing to a recovery in the British economy, including retail sales and services and manufacturing PMI. Elsewhere, the rupee was under pressure as the government reported record daily increases in the number of new coronavirus cases.
However, the sterling gave up by the end of Friday and continued the correction yesterday, when it closed 1.23% lower. The pound couldn’t leverage the positive data and instead focused on post-Brexit negotiations that turned gloomy. On Friday, European chief negotiator Michael Barnier said that a deal between the two sides seemed unlikely at this point. He said he was disappointed and concerned. Barnier commented:
“This week, once again, as in the July round, the British negotiators have not shown any real willingness to move forward on issues of fundamental importance for the European Union.”
On the other side, UK’s negotiator David Frost admitted that the two made little progress during the talks.
Pound Starts Tuesday Off the Right Foot
Nevertheless, the British currency is now trying to recover recent losses after finding support right below 97.000. Researcher Springboard said earlier today that shopper numbers across UK retailers increased by 4.1% last week, after a 0.8% growth in the previous week and a 1.8 increase in the same week in 2019.
Despite the recovery, the number of shoppers was still 30.7% lower than in the same week in 2019. Still, that was slightly better than the year-to-year decline of 32.5% in the week before.
