Forecast: How will U.K. retail sales data impact GBP/USD?

NEW YORK (Forex News Now) – Britain’s statistics bureau is set on Thursday to release heavily anticipated data on retail sales in June, in one of the day’s spotlight FX news events.

The data, an important gauge of consumer spending, is expected to show that retail sales grew during 0.5 percent month-on-month during the month, according to two global forex news outlets, after a growth of 0.6 percent in April.

National Statistics, the bureau, is scheduled to publish the report at 8:30 A.M. GMT; as such, the data is likely to dominate European morning currency trading.

According to forex analysis, if the report shows worse-than-expected growth, or even a contraction in sales, GBP/USD could be pushed down toward support around the low of July 9, 1.5051.

Should the report show that sales grew faster than forecast, however, the currency pair could be lifted toward resistance around Wednesday’s high, 1.5336.