Chris Redfern Moneycorp

Although the euro was a dozen ticks lower against sterling it could lay claim to being the luckiest, if not the best major currency of the week.

On Thursday confirmation that euro zone inflation was no higher than 0.7 per cent coincided with news that a third of the eurozone's 18 member countries saw their economies shrink in the first quarter of 2014. It would be an exaggeration to say the euro didn't flinch but its reaction was not much more than that.

The unluckiest currency was arguably sterling. Its only statistical challenge was Wednesday's UK employment data and they really weren't bad, with the unemployment rate falling to 6.8 per cent as another 25,000 jobseekers were successful in their search.

But investors seized upon a slowdown in the pace of wage increases. Incomes before bonus went up by 1.3 per cent in the year to March. That is less than the rate of inflation and investors fancied the Bank of England would see it as a widening of the 'productivity gap' that the governor is now using as a guideline for monetary policy.

The leading currency, though not by much, was the Japanese yen. It took an unexplained step forward a day before figures came out showing that Japan's economy grew by 1.5 per cent in the first quarter. Not far behind the yen was the Canadian dollar, which also attracted buyers for no obvious reason.

The coming week will be a big one for sterling. In the space of three days it will have to contend with UK data for inflation, retail sales and revised first-quarter economic output. Last week's harsh treatment of what were essentially decent unemployment figures suggests a less than benevolent attitude among investors towards sterling. If so, the balance of risk for the pound will be to the downside this week.