• GBP/USD shed 0.4% on Thursday, tapping a fresh half-year low.
• A thin calendar on the UK side saw the Pound Sterling give up ground.
• Cable traders are buckling in for Friday’s dense data schedule.

GBP/USD shed another four-tenths of a percent on Thursday, tapping the pair’s lowest bids in six months as the Pound Sterling’s underlying weakness drags the pair further into the low end against the Greenback. Market pressures are coiling ahead of Friday’s key prints that are due on both sides of the pond to wrap up an otherwise low-impact week.

Friday will kick off with an early print of UK Retail Sales figures for October. UK Retail Sales are expected to contract by 0.3% MoM compared to September’s 0.3%. On an annualized basis, UK Retail Sales growth is forecast to ease to 3.4% YoY from the previous 3.9%.

Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) business activity figures will release on Friday on a rolling schedule, with PMI figures due on both sides of the Atlantic. UK Manufacturing PMI survey results for November are expected to hold steady at 49.9, just beneath the contraction cutoff level, while UK Services PMI numbers are forecast to tick upwards to 52.1 from 52.0.