Pound Rises As European Shares Traded Higher

(RTTNews) - The British pound strengthened against other major currencies in the European session on Monday amid increased risk appetite, as tariff tensions eased and investors looked ahead to a busy week of earnings, with four of the Magnificent Seven companies— Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft — due to report their quarterly results.

Revived hopes for progress in U.S.-China trade talks and expectations of further stimulus from China, also led to the upturn of the investor sentiment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is working on bilateral trade deals with 17 key trading partners, not including China, and that the latter needs a de-escalation.

Meanwhile, traders speculated that the Bank of England (BoE) will lower interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.25 percent during its May 8 policy meeting. BoE dovish bets have increased as inflation pressures appear to be abating and concerns have grown that the US's new tariff policy will impede economic development in the UK.

In the European trading today, the pound rose to a 3-week high of 0.8500 against the euro and a 6-day high of 1.3354 against the U.S. dollar, from early lows of 0.8545 and 1.3280, respectively. If the pound extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.83 against the euro and 1.35 against the greenback.

Moving away from an early 4-day low of 1.1003 against the Swiss franc, the pound advanced to a 3-week high of 1.1082. On the upside, 1.15 is seen as the next resistance level for the pound.

Against the yen, the pound edged up to 191.56 against the yen, from an early high of 190.67. The pound may test resistance around the 195.00 region.

Looking ahead, Canada wholesale sales data for March is due to be released in the New York session.