British Pound holds steady against Japanese Yen after mixed UK PMIs
- GBP/JPY trades little changed on Wednesday as UK services activity slows more than expected in September.
- The UK manufacturing sector surprises to the upside, limiting the impact of weaker services activity.
- Pound Sterling remains pressured by concerns over UK public finances, while the Japanese Yen stays weak.
GBP/JPY trades around 209.90 on Wednesday at the time of writing, virtually unchanged on the day with a modest 0.05% decline. British Pound (GBP) struggles to find a clear direction following the release of mixed UK activity data, while persistent weakness in the Japanese Yen (JPY) limits the pair's downside.
The preliminary S&P Global United Kingdom (UK) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 51.7 in September from 52.5 in August, below market expectations of 52. Despite the slowdown, a reading above 50 indicates that activity in the sector continues to expand.
The loss of momentum in services also leads to a slowdown in overall business activity. The UK Composite PMI fell to 51.7 in September from 52.5 in the previous month. The picture is more encouraging in the manufacturing sector as the Manufacturing PMI rose to 52 from 51.7 previously, comfortably beating market expectations for a decline to 51.4.
Beyond the activity indicators, the British Pound remains pressured by concerns surrounding UK public finances. Public sector borrowing reached £18.27B in August, up from £2.04B in July, bringing the cumulative deficit from April to August to £77.3B. This figure exceeds the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) projection by £8.1B.
These figures increase pressure on UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves ahead of the upcoming budget, as higher borrowing costs and weak economic growth reduce the government's fiscal room for manoeuvre.
On the Japanese side, the Japanese Yen remains relatively weak following the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) dovish policy decision last week. The Japanese currency's underperformance helps limit the downside potential for GBP/JPY. Nevertheless, the possibility of intervention by Japanese authorities in the foreign exchange market could discourage aggressive bearish bets on the Japanese Yen.
Pound Sterling Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of British Pound (GBP) against listed major currencies today. British Pound was the strongest against the New Zealand Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.33% | 0.41% | 0.30% | 0.14% | 0.43% | 0.48% | 0.19% | |
| EUR | -0.33% | 0.07% | 0.00% | -0.18% | 0.11% | 0.14% | -0.14% | |
| GBP | -0.41% | -0.07% | -0.06% | -0.26% | 0.02% | 0.07% | -0.14% | |
| JPY | -0.30% | 0.00% | 0.06% | -0.16% | 0.10% | 0.16% | -0.06% | |
| CAD | -0.14% | 0.18% | 0.26% | 0.16% | 0.27% | 0.33% | 0.11% | |
| AUD | -0.43% | -0.11% | -0.02% | -0.10% | -0.27% | 0.05% | -0.16% | |
| NZD | -0.48% | -0.14% | -0.07% | -0.16% | -0.33% | -0.05% | -0.22% | |
| CHF | -0.19% | 0.14% | 0.14% | 0.06% | -0.11% | 0.16% | 0.22% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the British Pound from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent GBP (base)/USD (quote).