GBP fell against USD on Thursday and against a basket of world currencies to continue its losses for the third day in a row against the US dollar, near a 10-month low recorded earlier in the day. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony comes ahead of the release of key UK retail sales data for June, which provides strong evidence of the possibility of raising British interest rates in August.

Pound was down 0.3% at 07:25 GMT, trading at $ 1.3027, the opening price at $ 1.3066, then the high of $ 1.3083 and the lowest at $ 1.3025.

GBP ended yesterday’s trading down 0.4% against the dollar, its second consecutive daily loss, hitting a 10-month low of $ 1.3009, as the greenback continued to rally against most major currencies.

GBPUSD

The dollar index rose more than 0.3% on Thursday, extending its gains for the third day in a row, approaching a three-week high of 95.17 points, reflecting continued US currency purchases against a basket of currencies.

Continued US currency purchases follow Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress, which has raised the prospect of accelerating US monetary policy tightening and raising interest rates two more times this year.

Investors are looking forward to important UK data from the country’s retail sales in June, which provides strong evidence of the possibility of raising UK interest rates in August. Retail sales are one of the most important indicators of consumer spending. Represents more than 70% of the value of GDP.

Retail sales are expected to rise by 08:30 GMT, expected to rise 0.1% per month in June from a 1.3% rise in May, with car sales expected to rise by 0.3% from a 1.3% rise.