Swedish krona at three-week high against dollar after strong data, but down against euro and pound

The Swedish krona rallied to a three-week high against the dollar on Thursday (26 March) on better than expected data prints from Sweden but failed to make significant gains against the euro and the pound thanks to hawkish numbers from the eurozone and the UK.

The USD/SEK fell to 8.4271, its lowest since 6 March, from the previous close of 8.4896. The pair had been on a downward trend since 16 March and the krona has appreciated more than 3.7% against the greenback since then.

The EUR/SEK on the other hand, rose to 9.3327 from 9.3124, adding to the 345 pips gain of the previous day. The cross has been on an upward trend since 12 March, and the krona has fallen nearly 3% by Thursday.

The GBP/SEK rose to 12.65 from 12.63, moving further off the seven-week low of 12.59 touched on Wednesday (25 March).

Factory gate inflation in Sweden quickened to 1.9% from a year earlier in February from 0.2% in January, data showed on Thursday. Month-on-month, the PPI index rose 1.1% from 0.2%.

Sweden's trade surplus widened to 4.6bn krona in February from 3.3bn krona at the start of the year. Also, the household lending growth rallied to 6.2%, its highest since mid-2011.

The data that supported the eurozone was mainly the German GfK survey that showed the country's consumers are becoming ever more optimistic.

The overall indicator has forecast 10.0 points for April after recording 9.7 points in March. Increases were once again recorded in both economic and income expectations as well as willingness to buy, the survey report said.

Meanwhile, better than expected retail sales numbers helped the sterling to remain firm against the krona.

The UK's retail sales growth eased to 5.7% from a year earlier in February from 5.9% in January but it was much better than the consensus of 4.7% growth. The month-on-month growth jumped to 0.7% from 0.1% beating market expectations of a 0.4% growth.