Cable steady after U.K. data

Cable steady after U.K. data

30 June 2015, 11:53
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On Tuesday the pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar, after reports showed that Britain's economic growth was revised up, while U.K. account deficit appeared to be wider than economists had estimated.

GBP/USD was last at 1.5724 losing 0.08%.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics said that in the first quarter the country's gross domestic product expanded at a rate of 0.4%, up from a previous gauge of 0.3% and matching expectations.

On an annual basis, the economy grew by 2.9% from the first quarter of 2014, up from a previous estimate of 2.4%, BBC News reports.

Economic growth was revised up to 3% from 2.8% for 2014 as a whole.

The ONS data signaled that household disposable income grew by 4.5% year-on-year, the fastest annual pace since the second quarter of 2001.

Earlier in June, the office said construction output in the country was 0.2% lower in the first quarter, rather than 1.1% lower as previously estimated.

"The slight upward revision to growth in the first quarter of 2015 is down largely to the recently announced new methods to measure construction output," ONS chief economist Joe Grice said.

Quarterly growth in services output was left unrevised at 0.4%.

Separately, data showed that in the first quarter the U.K. current account recorded a deficit of £26.5 billion, narrowing from a deficit of £28.9 billion in the fourth quarter, whose figure was revised from a deficit of £25.3 billion.

Analysts had expected the current account deficit to narrow to £23.8 billion in the first quarter.

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