British Pound rebounds against Japanese Yen as UK growth beats expectations
- GBP/JPY recovers as upbeat UK GDP data supports the British Pound.
- UK GDP growth is revised higher, reinforcing expectations of a Bank of England rate hike.
- Traders await Tokyo inflation and Japan’s Unemployment Rate data on Friday.
GBP/JPY rebounds sharply on Wednesday as the British Pound (GBP) strengthens across the board following an upward revision to UK economic growth. At the time of writing, the cross trades around 208.65 after recovering from 206.89 earlier in Asian trading hours, the lowest since December 2025. However, the upside may remain limited in the near term, with intervention warnings from Japanese officials keeping the Japanese Yen’s (JPY) losses in check.
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 Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.12% | -0.41% | -0.13% | -0.01% | 0.32% | -0.04% | 0.06% | |
| EUR | 0.12% | -0.27% | -0.02% | 0.11% | 0.42% | 0.10% | 0.19% | |
| GBP | 0.41% | 0.27% | 0.25% | 0.40% | 0.70% | 0.39% | 0.48% | |
| JPY | 0.13% | 0.02% | -0.25% | 0.11% | 0.46% | 0.09% | 0.22% | |
| CAD | 0.01% | -0.11% | -0.40% | -0.11% | 0.34% | -0.01% | 0.11% | |
| AUD | -0.32% | -0.42% | -0.70% | -0.46% | -0.34% | -0.33% | -0.22% | |
| NZD | 0.04% | -0.10% | -0.39% | -0.09% | 0.01% | 0.33% | 0.10% | |
| CHF | -0.06% | -0.19% | -0.48% | -0.22% | -0.11% | 0.22% | -0.10% |
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).
Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK economy expanded by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, above the preliminary estimate and market expectation of 0.4%. On an annual basis, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.4%, also exceeding the earlier estimate and consensus forecast of 1.2%.
The stronger growth figures give the Bank of England (BoE) more room to focus on bringing inflation sustainably back to its 2% target, reinforcing expectations that the central bank could raise interest rates later this year. According to LSEG data cited by Reuters, traders are pricing in around 33 basis points of rate increases by year-end and more than 100 basis points by the end of 2027.
Pound support from stronger UK data faces test from Autumn Budget and BoE repricing risks
Strategists at BBH note that the Pound “was boosted by an upward revision to UK Q2 real GDP growth." However, they stress that “attention now turns to the October 28 Autumn Budget, which looks set to bring tax rises and spending cuts as Chancellor John Healey seeks to build a solid fiscal ‘buffer against uncertainty.’”
BBH argues that such “tighter fiscal policy would reduce the need for the BoE to deliver the 100bps of rate hikes priced over the next twelve months, and leaves GBP vulnerable to a dovish BoE repricing.” In contrast to the focus on fiscal strategy, they point out that “UK financial markets barely reacted to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s speech yesterday,” as “his speech focused on his long-term policy agenda ahead of the next general election, due by 2029, instead of a blueprint for immediate policy action.”
On the Japanese side, fresh data released on Wednesday showed that Retail Trade grew 2.7% YoY in August, below the 3.3% forecast and slowing from the previous month's 3.7% increase. Retail sales fell 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, reversing the 2.1% rise recorded in July, while Large Retailer Sales growth eased to 1.0% from 1.4%. Traders now await Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Unemployment Rate, due on Friday.
GDP FAQs
A country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the rate of growth of its economy over a given period of time, usually a quarter. The most reliable figures are those that compare GDP to the previous quarter e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q1 of 2023, or to the same period in the previous year, e.g Q2 of 2023 vs Q2 of 2022. Annualized quarterly GDP figures extrapolate the growth rate of the quarter as if it were constant for the rest of the year. These can be misleading, however, if temporary shocks impact growth in one quarter but are unlikely to last all year – such as happened in the first quarter of 2020 at the outbreak of the covid pandemic, when growth plummeted.
A higher GDP result is generally positive for a nation’s currency as it reflects a growing economy, which is more likely to produce goods and services that can be exported, as well as attracting higher foreign investment. By the same token, when GDP falls it is usually negative for the currency. When an economy grows people tend to spend more, which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation with the side effect of attracting more capital inflows from global investors, thus helping the local currency appreciate.
When an economy grows and GDP is rising, people tend to spend more which leads to inflation. The country’s central bank then has to put up interest rates to combat the inflation. Higher interest rates are negative for Gold because they increase the opportunity-cost of holding Gold versus placing the money in a cash deposit account. Therefore, a higher GDP growth rate is usually a bearish factor for Gold price.
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