Investing.com - The pound was largely mixed on Tuesday despite the release of public sector borrowing figures showing the smallest December budget deficit in 17 years.
At 11:15 GMT, GBP/USD was 1.3954, down 0.23% from the previous session close of 1.3986.
The pound briefly brushed past the 1.40 level earlier on Tuesday morning, marking a fresh post-Brexit referendum peak.
Sterling has been following an upward trend on the back of hopes that the UK will receive a bespoke trade deal from the European Union. French President Emmanuel Macron commented to this effect during an interview with the BBC at the weekend. Macron visited the UK on Thursday for the Anglo-French summit. .
The Office for National Statistics released public sector net borrowing data for December on Tuesday morning, showing that borrowing decreased to just £0.98 billion from £6.65 billion in November. The November figure was downwardly revised from £8.12 billion. The consensus figure for December had been £4.20 billion.
The ONS highlighted that the net borrowing (excluding public sector banks) decreased by £6.6 billion to £50.0 billion in the current financial year-to-date, marking the lowest net borrowing figure in over a decade.
The borrowing figures fall in line with the target set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Autumn Budget of net borrowing of £49.9 billion for the current tax year, ending in March 2018.
January is expected to see a budget surplus as tax revenues flood in. The deadline for self assessment tax returns for the tax year falls at the end of January.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) released the most recent industrial trends orders on Tuesday for the three months to January, showing manufacturing grew more than expected.
The fall in the value of sterling since the UK voted to leave the European Union has supported the UK’s manufacturing sector.
The CBI industrial trends orders reading for the three months to January was +14, down from November’s +17, but better than the forecast +13.
The report by the CBI showed that both domestic and export orders picked up compared to the previous three month period and that inventories of finished goods stocks increased at the fastest pace since October 2013.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was almost unchanged at 90.19, not far from Friday's three-year low of 89.96.
News that a deal had been reached to end the government shutdown boosted the dollar, which held onto gains into Tuesday morning.
The shutdown ended when Congress agreed to fund the government for the next three weeks.
EUR/USD was slightly lower at 1.2256, meanwhile EUR/GBP increased by 0.18% to 0.8784.
The pound was down against safe haven currencies. GBP/JPY was 154.14, marking a drop of 0.63%. GBP/CHF was 1.3405, a decrease of 0.36%.
As widely expected, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged earlier on Tuesday. Euro investors will be watching the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, and subsequent press conference with Governor Mario Draghi. .
Sterling was mixed against commodity currencies, GBP/AUD jumped 0.36% to 1.7506, while GBP/NZD was down 0.21% to 1.9045.
GBP/CAD was almost unchanged at 1.7410.
Investors will be watching UK's earnings growth figures and unemployment rate from Wednesday’s jobs report. Q4 GDP growth will be released on Friday.