* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote tmsnrt.rs/2hwV9Hv
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) – Sterling edged higher against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday as traders look past economic data in Britain and focused on a planned re-opening of shops in April.
Data showed that Britain’s economy grew faster than previously thought in the final three months of last year, with gross domestic product rising 1.3% from the previous quarter. It still shrank by the most in more than three centuries in 2020.
Mortgage lender Nationwide said British house prices grew less than expected in March. House prices fell by a monthly 0.2%, slowing the pace of their annual increase to 5.7% from 6.9% in March.
But traders looked past the weak data, and sterling edged up 0.3% to $1.3784 at 0906 GMT versus the dollar, which rose to multi-month peaks versus other currencies this week amid U.S. fiscal stimulus and speedy vaccinations.
“These data points won’t be reflective of conditions in the UK economy soon as the stages of re-opening start to elapse,” said Simon Harvey, senior FX Market Analyst at Monex Europe in London.
“Given what could be in store next month for the UK economy, we believe the pound looks cheap at current levels against the dollar,” Harvey said.
Versus the euro, sterling was on track to its sixth consecutive monthly gain. It was 0.1% higher at 85.15 pence against the single currency.
France and Germany are among the countries contending with a third wave of COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations, but lockdown restrictions are gradually being lifted in England.
More substantial changes, including the re-opening of non-essential retail and outdoor hospitality settings, will take place on April 12.
Sterling has gained 4.5% against the euro so far this year, with analysts attributing the move largely to the pace of the UK’s vaccine rollout, one of the fastest in the world. (Reporting by Joice Alves, editing by Larry King)
