Sterling rose a quarter of a percent this morning before any data, cementing some modest gains notched up this week.
British retail sales jumped for the second month in a row in May, far outstripping expectations as a royal wedding and warm weather helped shoppers put a winter slump further behind them, data showed this morning.
The figures suggested that the economy was recovering from a sharp slowdown in early 2018 that put the Bank of England off an interest rate hike.
The ONS said that retail sales in cash terms were up by 6.3 percent, the biggest increase since April 2017.
Analysts said sterling is set to strengthen against the euro if data beats forecasts.
The data was released and year on year the figure jumped to 4.4% and 1.3% month on month, both figures exceeding the forecasts.
Sterling reacted and gained 0.3% across the board. A good start to the day for the pound.
Last night the Fed Reserve raised the US interest rate by 0.25% as expected, this as priced in and the markets had no real reaction to it.