The Pound experienced some decent gains on Friday after the latest release of UK data helped to create an upbeat mood. There were improvements seen in both the retail sales and PMI figures, both of which came in higher than expected. However, investors still had concerns and this prevented the currency from strengthening further. At the end of the week, the Pound finished at 1.1471 against the Euro and 1.3879 against the US Dollar according to the Foreign Exchange Market.
It was an excellent end to the week for the Euro after investors were boosted by the latest PMI figures from the Eurozone. The preliminary figures for April indicated that both the manufacturing and service sectors are performing well, indicating the bloc could experience growth during the second quarter of 2021.
It was a defensive end to the week for the US Dollar as it suffered from broad selling pressure after there was a drop in US Treasury yields. However, the losses were limited after it became apparent that the US Markit PMI indicated that the US Services sector grew at a record rate during April.