Currency exchange boosted by data

The pound's currency exchange rate has been boosted by the release of a string of positive data concerning the UK.

Firstly, the Office for National Statistics reported that the current account deficit in the UK narrowed to two per cent of GDP in the second quarter.

This is a reduction compared to the 3.1 per cent recorded in the first quarter.

Reuters reported suggestions that a Swiss bank had bought a large amount of sterling over the course of the morning, which worked against an earlier selling by Middle East accounts.

Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, told the news source: "Sterling is benefiting from this morning's data which suggests the Bank of England is further away from additional quantitative easing than the Federal Reserve."

He added that the pound was likely to have "another crack at $1.60".

This afternoon (September 28th) at 13:45 BST the pound bought $1.584.

The currency was also up against the euro, trading at €1.177.

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Posted by Eleanor Ward