British Pound Sterling: The outlook for tomorrow - Featuring BRC Retail Sales Monitor, Halifax House Prices and Construction PMI

As we approach the close of the UK equity market place we see today's Manufacturing PMI data has really set a positive tone for GBP:

The pound to euro exchange rate is 0.26 pct higher at 1.1726.
The pound to US dollar exchange rate is 0.98 pct higher at 1.5346.
The pound to Australian dollar is 0.8 pct in the red at 1.5754.

NB: These are spot market rates, your bank will affix their own discretionary spread to the figures. However, an independent FX provider will guarantee to beat your bank's offer, thus delivering you more currency. Please find out more here.

The outlook for the pound on the 4th

A busy day of data for sterling kicks off at midnight tonight with the release of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Retail Sales Monitor.

The release is unlikely to be a major driver of GBP; however it will help inform forecasts for other key economic readings.

Analysts are forecasting a release of -1.2%; a shade better than last month's -2.2%.

The BRC Retail Sales Monitor measures changes in the actual value of retail sales from participating companies with invaluable management information on a regular and reliable basis. It shows the performance of the retail sector.

At 8 AM it is the turn of Halifax House Price Index with Year on Year figures forecast to have grown by 2.5% beating a previous reading of 2.0%.

We also have Month on Month data to contend with; forecasts are for a reading of 0.3% m/m against last month's reading of 1.1%.

This event will have slightly more weight for the UK currency than the BRC figures.

The big event of the day for GBP comes at 9:30 with the release of this months PMI Construction data.

Economists predict a reading of 49.6, a slight improvement on last month's 49.4.

The PMI Construction released by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and Markit Economics shows business conditions in the UK construction sector.