In early European trading on Tuesday, EUR/GBP continued its gains around 0.8575. The recent improvement in German economic data has provided support for the rise of the euro (EUR). Traders will get further clues from euro zone June retail sales data due later on Tuesday.
Stronger-than-expected German factory orders also helped the euro gain further ground. Data released by the German Federal Statistics Office on Tuesday showed that German factory orders increased by 3.9% monthly in June, after falling by 1.6% in the previous month. Market expectations were for growth of 0.8%.
Eurozone retail sales are expected to rise 0.1% in June from the previous quarter. If euro zone retail sales improve, that could boost the cross. On the other hand, an upbeat outcome could raise the prospect of a rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) in September, dragging the pound lower.
In terms of sterling, the Bank of England (BOE) decided last week to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 5%. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey noted that interest rate decisions will be taken “at each meeting” but market players expect more rate cuts from the BoE at its next meeting in September The probability is close to 55%.