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The pound rose against other major currencies on Friday after data show UK shoppers were more active than expected last month, with retail sales showing a surprise rise in January.
Sterling strengthened against the dollar, the euro and the yen after figures showed a monthly rise in retail sales of 0.9 per cent in January, following a 0.6 per cent rise in December. Economists had been expecting a dip of 0.3 per cent.
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The pound rose 0.2 per cent against the dollar to $1.5829, its highest level all week, and 0.2 per cent against the euro to €1.2050. It gained 0.4 per cent against the yen to Y125.20.
The yen continued to weaken against other major currencies on Friday following a move this week by the Bank of Japan to inject more money into the Japanese economy by stepping up its purchases of government bonds.
The dollar rose above Y79 for the first time since the Bank of Japan intervened to weaken the yen at the end of October, rising 0.3 per cent to Y79.10. The euro rose 0.2 per cent to a high of Y104.07, a 10-week high.
Analysts said that the yen remained at risk of further intervention despite its fall in recent days, as politicians continued to be concerned about the effect of a stronger yen on Japanese exporters.
“We think that political pressure levied on the BoJ’s monetary policy is increasing as each day passes,” said analysts at Citi.
The New Zealand dollar outperformed other commodity currencies against the dollar after its central bank governor, Alan Bollard, said the country’s economy might be as much as 10 per cent higher than official figures.
The New Zealand dollar rose 0.5 per cent to $0.8380. The Australian dollar was flat at $1.0757 while the Canadian dollar was 0.1 per cent higher at $1.0039.
The euro was flat against the dollar at $1.3134 after rising the previous day on optimism that a deal on Greek debt was drawing near.
