The Pound Sterling (GBP) faces selling pressure against its peers on Friday after the release of weak United Kingdom (UK) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and factory data for May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the UK economy declined by 0.1% on month, against expectations of a 0.1% expansion.
In April, the UK GDP contracted by 0.3%, extending the decline in economic activity for a second straight month.
The poor performance of the industrial sector was one of the reasons behind the economic contraction, data from the ONS showed.. Month-on-month Industrial Production fell at a faster pace of 0.9% compared to the 0.6% drop seen in April. Economists expected Industrial production to have remained flat. On month, Manufacturing Production contracted by 1%, faster than estimates of 0.1% and the prior reading of 0.7%.
Declining UK GDP and factory production are expected to boost market expectations that the Bank of England (BoE) could reduce interest rates in the August policy meeting, a scenario that is theoretically unfavorable for the British currency.
Source: Fxstreet
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