Ella 
EUR/GBP rose to three-month highs and was trading around 0.8610 during the Asian session on Thursday. EUR/GBP found support on rising expectations for a 25 basis point rate cut by the Bank of England (BOE) at its August meeting. In addition, market expectations now include the possibility of two more quarterly interest rate cuts from the Bank of England before December.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has published the cost of housing in the UK. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported that UK housing price balances in July were -19%, compared with -17% in the previous month, the lowest since December last year.
In the euro, traders were awaiting Friday’s release of Germany’s Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) from statistics office Destatis. Market expectations are stable, with annual growth expected at 2.6% and month-on-month growth of 0.5%.
Euro zone retail sales fell 0.3% monthly in June on Tuesday, beating market expectations for a 0.1% decline. On an annual basis, retail sales also fell 0.3%, versus expectations for growth of 0.1%, compared with the previous estimate of 0.5% growth.
European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Olli Rehn said on Wednesday that the central bank could continue to cut interest rates if policymakers are confident that inflation trends will slow in the near term. The European Central Bank stayed on hold at its July meeting. “Inflation continues to slow, but the road to the 2% target this year remains bumpy,” Wren said.
