British pound spiked above 1.3600 barrier against dollar after upbeat UK retail sales data. August figures strongly beat the expectations coming at 1.0% m/m vs 0.2% forecast with core retail sales coming at identical figure.

Annualized retail sales rose 2.4% in August, well above 1.1% forecast and core retail sales y/y came at 2.8% vs forecasted increase by 1.4%.

Retail sales hit the highest levels in three months on the fastest monthly sales growth since April.

Strong retail sales numbers will boost hawks that are supporting the idea of early interest rate hike, as signaled by BoE last week.

The central bank expects moderate Q3 retail sales growth to stop signs of slowdown in the third quarter as consumer demand shows signs of improving after weak readings earlier this year.

The British pound jumped against its major counterparts after data and approached Monday’s peak at 1.3618 (the highest since June 2016) against the greenback, shifting near-term focus higher, ahead of Fed policy decision due later today.

Sterling also rallied against yen after data and approached key barrier at 151.59 (triple upside rejection).