Market Data 
- UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.9 in March, beating estimates of 47.8.
- Services PMI in the UK unexpectedly dropped to 53.4 in March.
- GBP/USD stays offered near 1.2770 after mixed UK business PMIs.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved sharply from 47.5 in February to 49.9 in March, above the estimated 47.8 reading.
Meanwhile, the Preliminary UK Services Business Activity Index declined to 53.4 in March, missing the market forecast of 53.8. The previous figure was 53.8.
Commenting on the flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said: “Further signs of the UK economy having pulled out of last year’s brief recession are provided by the provisional PMI data for March. A further robust expansion of business activity ended the economy’s best quarter since the second quarter of last year.”
“The survey data are indicative of first-quarter GDP rising 0.25% to thereby signal a reassuringly solid rebound from the technical recession seen in the second half of 2023,” Chris added.
FX implications
GBP/USD is consolidating the latest decline to near 1.2700 following the mixed UK PMI data. The pair is currently trading at 1.2776, down 0.05% 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 weakest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | 0.30% | 0.17% | 0.13% | -0.14% | 0.25% | 0.06% | 0.89% | |
| EUR | -0.31% | -0.13% | -0.16% | -0.45% | -0.07% | -0.23% | 0.59% | |
| GBP | -0.17% | 0.13% | -0.04% | -0.31% | 0.06% | -0.10% | 0.72% | |
| CAD | -0.13% | 0.17% | 0.03% | -0.30% | 0.09% | -0.06% | 0.76% | |
| AUD | 0.16% | 0.44% | 0.31% | 0.28% | 0.37% | 0.21% | 1.03% | |
| JPY | -0.21% | 0.05% | -0.08% | -0.12% | -0.37% | -0.16% | 0.64% | |
| NZD | -0.06% | 0.24% | 0.11% | 0.07% | -0.20% | 0.17% | 0.84% | |
| CHF | -0.90% | -0.54% | -0.75% | -0.77% | -1.07% | -0.60% | -0.86% |
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).
