By Samuel Indyk
LONDON – The British pound edged up against the U.S. dollar and euro on Friday in thin trading conditions, but was still set for its third straight weekly drop against both currencies.
The pound was last up 0.2% versus the dollar at $1.2055. It hit its lowest level in over three weeks on Thursday at $1.1993.
Against the euro, the pound was up 0.1% at 87.94 pence, having hit its weakest level against the single currency since October 12 on Thursday.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, said the pound was unwinding some of its move from the earlier part of the week, with attention turning to U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data due at 1330 GMT.
“The U.S. dollar is acting cautiously ahead of the latest inflation reading as traders await clues about the Federal Reserve’s next move,” Scholar said.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Bank of England (BoE) both raised rates in December by a smaller clip than previous meetings, although both expect more rate hikes will be needed to help bring inflation down to target.
Scholar expects the pound to find support if signs grow larger that the Fed’s tightening cycle could be coming to an end.
“The pound has already been benefiting from expectations of less hawkish Fed policy since the trough in September with the potential for that uptrend to extend into next year,” Scholar said.
Sterling is up 8% against the greenback in the quarter-to-date, heading for its biggest quarterly gain in 13 years as a slowdown in U.S. inflation prompted bets that the Fed would soon stop raising interest rates.
Still, the pound has had a rotten 2022, falling over 10% against the dollar and 4% against the euro, weighed on by a slowing domestic economy, multi-decade high inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and political instability.
In September, at the height of the turmoil, the pound lost 9% in a matter of days, moves the scale of which are rare in major markets.