The United Kingdom (UK) annual headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 3.4% in May after rising 3.5% in April, the data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Wednesday.
Markets expected a 3.4% growth in the reported period. The reading still remains distant from the Bank of England’s (BoE) 2% target.
The core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy items) climbed 3.5% year-over-year (YoY) in the same period, compared to a 3.8% acceleration in April while missing the anticipated 3.6% figure.
Services inflation declined to 4.7% YoY in May from April's 5.4%.
Meanwhile, the monthly UK CPI inflation eased notably to 0.2% in May from 1.2% in April, coming in line with the estimates.
The UK CPI data offers a slight lift to the Pound Sterling, driving GBP/USD briefly above 1.3450. The pair is up 0.15% higher on the day at 1.3458, as of writing.
The table below shows the percentage change of British Pound (GBP) against listed major currencies today. British Pound was the strongest against the Swiss Franc.
USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USD | -0.21% | -0.24% | -0.16% | -0.05% | -0.31% | -0.26% | -0.01% | |
EUR | 0.21% | -0.02% | 0.00% | 0.07% | -0.20% | 0.02% | 0.21% | |
GBP | 0.24% | 0.02% | 0.04% | 0.09% | -0.18% | -0.09% | 0.25% | |
JPY | 0.16% | 0.00% | -0.04% | 0.15% | -0.12% | 0.14% | 0.41% | |
CAD | 0.05% | -0.07% | -0.09% | -0.15% | -0.25% | -0.19% | 0.15% | |
AUD | 0.31% | 0.20% | 0.18% | 0.12% | 0.25% | 0.22% | 0.43% | |
NZD | 0.26% | -0.02% | 0.09% | -0.14% | 0.19% | -0.22% | 0.21% | |
CHF | 0.00% | -0.21% | -0.25% | -0.41% | -0.15% | -0.43% | -0.21% |
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).