2015.01.1321:17:32UTC+00British pound stabilizes on slightly mixed inflation message

The British pound steadies Tuesday in the light of another series of bearish headline figures on the economy, backed by a barely improved breakdown on core inflation which underlined the United Kingdom was still doing better than Europe.

Sterling closed on a positive note at $1.5186 per US dollar, from last week’s $1.5034. Against the euro, it added 0.4% to 77.65 British pence.

Woes the British economy was dwindling before a possibly messy parliamentary election in May might have pushed the currency lower since the beginning of January. But after lower retail sales data and consumer inflation at 0.5%, investors drew some comfort from an increase in core inflation to 1.3% year over year.

"The core number was probably what stemmed the tide and (against the dollar) we have come a long way," according to a dealer with one international bank in London.