The GBP/USD pair is under significant pressure on Friday influenced by parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom.
At the end of the week, the British Pound was shocked. Even before that, the results of preliminary surveys indicated that the difference between supporters of Conservative and Labor parties was very critical, but few people thought that the real results of parliamentary elections might turn out to be so troubled. The current quote for the GBP/USD pair is 1.2734 as the instrument has lost two figures since the moment the trading session opened.
So, according to exit polls, the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, which is led by Theresa May, will have more seats in the Parliament, but not enough for the absolute majority. The party lacks about 12 seats, and its current results are worse than they were on Monday. These parliamentary elections were early, according to the schedule they were to be held in two years, but the Council of Ministers required the absolute majority in order to enforce decisions relating to the Brexit without any complications. It appears that right now they have even more problems than in the past.
In April, when it became known about the necessity of holding early parliamentary elections, investors thought that the Conservative Party was right to risk it all, because their positions were pretty solid. It continued this way until the middle of May, when the difference between numbers of the parties started to reduce.
The political factor will remain the main one for the Pound in the near future and any bad political news will make the GBP weaken significantly.
The statistics published by the UK today was disappointing and fell through the cracks. The Industrial Production expanded only by 0.2% m/m in April, although it was expected to add 0.7% m/m. On YoY, the numbers are even worse: the indicator lost 0.8%, which is much worse than expected. The Manufacturing Production added the same 0.2% m/m against the expected reading of +0.8% m/m.
RoboForex Analytical Department