The Pound Sterling (GBP) rises against its major peers, except the US Dollar (USD), on Friday after the release of robust United Kingdom (UK) Retail Sales data for January.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that Retail Sales, a key measure of consumer spending, rose at a robust pace of 1.7% in the month after contracting by 0.6% in December, revised lower from -0.3%. Economists expected the consumer spending measure to have grown at a moderate pace of 0.3%

Year-on-year Retail Sales rose by 1%, beating the estimate of 0.6%, but remained lower than the 2.8% growth seen in 12 months to December.Upbeat Retail Sales data is expected to force traders to further pare their bets on the Bank of England (BoE) cutting interest rates again in the March meeting.

The BoE's dovish bets were already challenged by a hotter-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for January and strong Average Earnings data in the three months ending December.

However, investors are unlikely to become increasingly optimistic about the British currency's outlook as BoE Governor Andrew Bailey remains concerned over economic prospects this year. Earlier this week, Bailey warned that the economic growth is expected to remain sluggish.

Source: FXStreet