Sterling dipped against the dollar during Monday’s trading session, staying close to a nine month low against the dollar and hitting a six week low against a currency basket of currencies as concerns about a weak economy and high levels of UK debt continued to put the pound under selling pressure.

Elsewhere the euro remained steady, helped mainly by a report from German weekly paper, Der Spiegel, that Germany’s finance ministry had prepared plans for the Euro Zone countries to help Greece.

There was a somewhat shaky return to risk appetite, sparked mainly by investors reassessing the chances of a near term interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, despite the Fed’s surprise decision to increase its discount rate last week. Oil prices also rose to a six-week high, weakening the greenback.

In the absence of any other local data this week, investors will focus on the second estimate of UK fourth quarter GDP due on Friday. In the meantime, today’s eyes will be on the German IFO survey and the measures of its business climate, current conditions and expectation components. Italian consumer confidence and French consumer spending are also up for release alongside CPI for the two nations. In the US, consumer confidence will be the primary focus but house prices and a Richmond Federal Reserve index are also due.