The British pound is headed for its largest weekly rise in six months on Friday following the latest slew of economic data and central bank speculation over the past week.
On Friday morning, the sterling was up by just under 0.1% against the dollar at $1.279; its highest level since April. Since Monday, the pound is up 1.72%; its highest weekly gain since December of last year.
According to analysts, the pound’s rise is driven by data showing that British wages are rising far quicker than expected. This has given rise to expectations for the Bank of England to continue its interest rate hiking agenda at its policy meeting next week.
“Tuesday’s labor market data led Bank rate expectations to spend much of that evening flirting with a terminal (peak) rate closer to 6%,” Nicholas Rees, FX market analyst at Monex Europe commented. The Bank of England’s main rate is currently 4.5%. Experts on Friday expected this rate to rise to 5.75% by the start of next year.