Sterling rose to an 11-year peak against the dollar for the second straight session on Friday, passing $1.84 for the first time since late 1992 on the back of protracted dollar weakness and British rate hike expectations.
Analysts said sterling shrugged off news of a slightly worse than expected November British trade deficit as markets continued to see the Bank of England in rate hike mode even though it left borrowing costs steady on Thursday.
The pound hit 11-year highs during European mid-session trade but broke through $1.84 to peak at $1.8440 only after a worse than expected US jobs report raised fresh doubts about the domestic labour market, which remains the weak link in the US recovery.
"Sterling has outpaced the euro a little bit in the past few weeks but the big picture is that it's dollar weakness (behind the pound's rally)," said Julian Jessop, chief European economist at Standard Chartered.
By 1510 GMT, sterling was still up around half a percent on the day at $1.8423.
Against the euro it was flat on the day at 69.53 pence, giving up earlier gains as the single currency benefited broadly from the dollar sell-off following the dismal jobs report.
However, the pound was still not far from two-month highs beyond 69.26 pence per euro.
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