Sterling rises against euro

Sterling hit a 10-day high against the euro on Friday after data showed British economic growth reached its fastest rate in two years in the second quarter.
The second estimate, unrevised from the previous and in line with forecasts, showed growth rose 0.8 percent on the quarter and 2.6 percent on the year. Consumer spending jumped by one percent on the quarter as the World Cup soccer tournament increased demand for flat-screen TVs, food and drink.
"The strength in consumer spending in Q2 will probably be largely reversed in Q3, because it was World Cup-driven and won't be maintained to the same extent so we expect a little bit of a slowdown.. but the numbers were pretty much in line," said Adrian Schmidt, strategist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
By 1418 GMT, sterling was up 0.16 percent versus the euro at 67.51 pence after earlier reaching a 10-day high of 67.44 pence. It also reached an eight-year high against the yen, hitting 221.65 yen, and matched one-week highs against the Bank of England's trade-weighted index.
The pound was 0.12 percent lower against the dollar at $1.8851 after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not comment on the US economy or give any insight into the interest rate outlook in a speech on Friday.
Belgium's dominant telecom operator Belgacom said it would take full control of mobile operator Proximus after agreeing to buy Vodafone's 25 percent stake for 2 billion euros. Shares in Britain's Lloyds TSB and Barclays rose on Friday on hopes that Bank of America will make a bid for a British bank, according to traders.
"M & A stories have been fairly sterling-positive recently so it could be that sterling is getting some support from those stories," said Ian Stannard, senior foreign exchange strategist at BNP Paribas.
The British Bankers Association said the number of mortgage approvals for home purchases in Britain fell sharply in July as the market slowed over summer holidays, but approvals were still up on the year.
Next week's British data, after a market holiday on Monday, will include consumer credit figures for July and house price surveys and manufacturing PMI for August.