GBP rose against most of its major rivals in the European session on Thursday after underperformance earlier in the week, which was caused by the raised worries that the Bank of England (BoE) would provide more policy easing with the interest rates expected to be moved into negative territory to cushion the damage to the UK's economy from a new national lockdown.

Investors also digested the UK’s December Construction PMI, which revealed that construction sector recovery continued in December. According to the survey from IHS Markit,  the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) UK Construction Total Activity Index edged down to 54.6 in December from 54.7 in November, pointing to a sustained rebound in business activity. A score above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Economists had forecast the indicator to increase to 55.0 in December.