Pound Climbs Against Majors

The pound firmed against its major counterparts in the European session on Friday, as Bank of England policy maker Megan Greene pushed back against market bets on interest rate cuts in 2024.

In her first speech as an MPC member on Thursday, Greene said the central bank will keep restrictive monetary policy stance for an extended period to achieve the inflation target.

The data on output remains mixed but inflation persistence is a concern, Greene added.

Final data from S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed that U.K. manufacturing PMI advanced to 47.2 from 44.8 in October. The flash reading was 46.6.

Data from the mortgage lender Nationwide Building Society showed that UK house prices declined at the slowest pace in nine months in November as expectations of interest rate cuts in future eased affordability pressures.

House prices registered an annual decline of 2.0 percent after easing 3.3 percent in October. Prices marked the slowest fall since February 2023. They were forecast to drop 2.3 percent. The pound advanced to 1.2675 against the greenback, 187.51 against the yen and 1.1081 against the franc, off its early lows of 1.2609, 186.67 and 1.1032, respectively. The pound may find resistance around 1.31 against the greenback, 190.00 against the yen and 1.13 against the franc.

The pound moved up to 0.8599 against the euro, its highest level since September 18. The pound is seen finding resistance around the 0.84 level.