UK Preliminary Services PMI steadies at 54.3 in February vs. 54.1 expected
- UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.1 in February, missing estimates of 47.5.
- Services PMI in the UK held steady at 54.3 in February, a positive surprise.
- GBP/USD holds gains near 1.2700 after mixed UK business PMIs.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved slightly from 47.0 in January to 47.1 in February, below the market consensus of 47.5.
Meanwhile, the Preliminary UK Services Business Activity Index stayed unchanged at 54.3 in February, beating the consensus forecast of 54.1.
Commenting on the flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said: “UK economic growth has accelerated in February, with the early PMI survey data pointing to the largest rise in business activity for nine months. This is by no means a one-off improvement, as faster growth has now been recorded for four straight months after a brief spell of decline late last year.”
“The survey data point to the economy growing at a quarterly rate of 0.2-3% in the first quarter of 2024, allaying fears that last year's downturn will have spilled over into 2024 and suggesting that the UK’s ‘recession’ is already over,” Chris added.
FX implications
GBP/USD is consolidating the latest uptick to 1.2710 following the mixed UK PMI data. The pair is currently trading at 1.2692, adding 0.46% so far.
Pound Sterling price today
The table below shows the percentage change of Pound Sterling (GBP) against listed major currencies today. Pound Sterling was the strongest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -0.31% | -0.32% | -0.36% | -0.43% | -0.06% | -0.38% | -0.28% | |
| EUR | 0.29% | -0.04% | -0.08% | -0.15% | 0.22% | -0.09% | 0.01% | |
| GBP | 0.32% | 0.02% | -0.04% | -0.11% | 0.27% | -0.04% | 0.04% | |
| CAD | 0.33% | 0.06% | 0.04% | -0.07% | 0.31% | 0.00% | 0.12% | |
| AUD | 0.42% | 0.12% | 0.10% | 0.05% | 0.37% | 0.06% | 0.13% | |
| JPY | 0.07% | -0.24% | -0.30% | -0.30% | -0.39% | -0.32% | -0.18% | |
| NZD | 0.38% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0.00% | -0.06% | 0.31% | 0.11% | |
| CHF | 0.25% | -0.05% | -0.07% | -0.12% | -0.18% | 0.20% | -0.11% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
