- Pound (GBP) trades mixed versus peers
- Thursday BoE MPC in focus
- Indian Rupee (INR) supported as retail sales & gasoline sales recover
- Rising covid cases remain a concern
The Pound Indian Rupee (GBP/INR) exchange rate is edging higher snapping a three day losing streak. The pair settled down 0.05% at 100.71 in the previous session towards the high of the day. At 06:45 UTC, GBP/INR trades +0.03% at 100.74
The Pound traded mixed versus its major peers in the previous session following comments by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey who confirmed that the central bank plans to continue buying up bonds across the year at an elevated pace.
His cautious tone dented demand for sterling. His comments come even as the UK’s vaccine rollout appears to be working, covid cases are falling and the UK economy appears to be on track for the next phase of reopening.
Looking ahead, there is no high impacting UK macro data on Wednesday. Investors will turn their attention to the Bank of England monetary policy announcement on Thursday. The central bank is not expected to adjust monetary policy.
Economists at investment bank Deutsche Bank have raised their growth forecasts for the UK. However, they also expect the BoE to sit on the side lines for the next two years.
India’s retail industry is heading closer towards a full recovery from the covid hit. Retail sales achieved a 93% or pre-pandemic sales in February. Consumer durables and quick service restaurants have shown a notably strong rebound. According to the report, retailers are hopeful of returning to pre-pandemic business levels in the first six months of 2021.
This is of course dependent on India not experiencing a resurgence of covid cases. More recently fears are growing that covid cases are starting to surge after India recorded its sixth straight day of covid cases over 20,000.
Elsewhere India’s petrol and diesel sales rise as economic activity picks up. India’s state fuel retailers’ diesel sales rose 7.4%inthe first two weeks of March. This marks the first annual rise in gasoline sales since October.
