EUR/GBP remains sideways near 0.8450 amid risk-off mood
- EUR/GBP trades marginally lower on Monday in the Asian trading hours.
- Minimum wage rise, positive Brexit headlines, upbeat data support the gains for the sterlings.
- Dovish ECB's stance weighs on the euro.
EUR/GBP remains muted on Monday in the Asian session . The cross-currency stayed in a relatively narrow trade band with no meaningful traction. At the time of writing, EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8457, down 0.08% for the day.
The downbeat economic data and dovish ECB makes the euro weaker against the sterling. The IHS Markit Eurozone Services Purchase Managers Index (PMI) dropped 54.7 in October below the market projections of 55.5. The Eurozone business activity stutters as supply chain woes intensify. In addition to that, a Reuters poll reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) will be the last major central bank to raise interest rates after the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is worth mentioning that, S&P 500 Futures is trading at 4,525, down 0.24% for the day.
On the other hand, the sterling enjoyed the gains on combination of factors. UK’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak prepares to push the minimum wage to 10 an hour by the next General Election along with an additional 6 billion budget to its National Health Service.
The IHS Markit/ CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI jumped 57.7 in October beating the market forecast of 55.8. Furthermore, the UK government said that the talks between London and Brussels remained constructive so far over the troubled Northern Ireland Protocol.
As for now, traders are waiting for the German Business Climate data, and UK BoE’s Tenreyro speech to gauge market sentiment data.
EUR/GBP additional levels