Investing.com - The pound was steady on Wednesday as the Bank of England released a mixed bag of UK lending figures. Sterling looked to have recovered some of the losses made on Tuesday after the rush for safe haven assets, initiated by North Korea launching a missile over neighbouring Japan.
At 10:00 GMT, cable was up 0.07% at 1.2929.
The Bank of England lending data showed July mortgage approvals picked up, coming in higher than forecast 65,500. The June figure was 65,318, compared with July’s 68,689. July tends to be a quiet month for the UK housing market.
The UK housing market is expected to feel the consumer spending squeeze in the coming quarter, reflected in data released by UK mortgage lender Nationwide on Tuesday, which showed that house price growth had cooled to a three-month low in August.
BoE consumer credit fell in July. Consumer credit growth slowed to 9.8% from 10% in July, the slowest pace since April 2016. It was up £1.179bn, compared with the consensus reading of £1.5bn, and down on June’s £1.351bn.
Donald Trump’s mild ‘all cards on the table’ comment regarding North Korea’s missile launch helped to improve market sentiment, and allowed the dollar to pick up on Wednesday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.16% at 92.42.
Investors will be watching the US Q2 GDP revision released today, along with the ADP nonfarm payrolls, which act as a precursor to the official employment report on Friday.
The euro dropped 0.28% on the pound. EUR/GBP was 0.9239, down from its Tuesday highs. The single currency reached an 8-year high against the pound on Tuesday, edging above the 0.930 level.
Many expect the European Central Bank will soon announce tapering plans, boosting the euro-zone currency. Euro-zone economic sentiment was higher than forecast in August.
Safe haven demand was up on Tuesday, the pound moved to recover some of its losses on safe haven currencies on Wednesday. GBP/JPY was 142.01, an increase of 0.18%, while GBP/CHF was up 0.24% at 1.2363.
The pound was up 0.24% against the Canadian dollar. GBP/CAD was 1.6200.
GBP/AUD was little changed at 1.6252, while GBP/NZD was up 0.20% 1.7847.
Investors will be watching the Brexit negotiations for progress as the UK Brexit secretary David Davis returned to Brussels on Wednesday to continue the third round of talks with the EU’s Michel Barnier.
UK manufacturing PMI figures will be released on Friday.