LONDON, Feb 20 Reuters The pound is playing catchup with the dollar as investors beef up their bullish positions, and may get extra oomph from data this week showing British business activity is among the strongest in the developed world.

Monthly surveys of business activity this week are expected to show the UK topped the league table in February, well ahead of the euro zone and beating even the United States, which in the last year has been one of the few major countries not to have shown a dip into contraction.

This socalled U.S. exceptionalism has kept the dollar buoyant and investor confidence in a soft landing for the U.S. economy running high.

Economists polled by Reuters expect an index of British business activity to have risen to 52.7 in early February, led by a surge in servicesector activity to its fastest pace since last May.

Sterling is down just 0.9 against the dollar so far in 2024, having clawed back up from a 1.5 yeartodate loss two weeks ago.

Just four months ago, the International Monetary Fund declared Britain would be the slowestgrowing economy among the Group of Seven nations in 2024.

A lot has changed since then, not least Germany tilting into actual recession and France barely growing. Data last week showed the UK, too, registered two straight quarters of negative growth last year.

The euro has fallen to its weakest in six months against sterling , having lost around 2 in value against its crossChannel rival since the start of the year….