Currency exchange fall follows trade figures

The currency exchange rate for the pound has fallen on the back of the latest trade data.

This morning at 11:05 BST, the pound was trading against the dollar at $1.53, while sterling bought €1.21.

Revealed this morning (September 9th), the figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the deficit in UK goods trade rose from £7.5 billion in June to £8.7 billion in July.

This is the highest deficit recorded since this particular series of records began in January 1998.

It is also the highest gap recorded in any earlier but non-comparable records dating back to 1697.

Philip Shaw from Investec told Reuters: "After June's figures had raised hopes of a stronger trend to exports, the figures are disappointing."

However, he added: "It is wrong to place too much emphasis on one month of trade figures, but the surprises at the moment on data all tend to be in one direction."

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Posted by Eleanor Ward