Sterling gained against the dollar and the euro on Monday, buoyed by rising equities, while investors eyed economic data due later this week to see whether Britain's recession is easing. The pound rose to an 11-day high against the euro, which came under widespread selling pressure after data on Friday added to the view that the 16-nation eurozone's economic recovery may take longer than Britain's.
Britain has been focussed on a parliamentary expenses scandal for the past week, but the row has had little impact on investor appetite for the British currency. "Sterling is one of the risk plays, so any kind of semblance of risk appetite coming back and sterling has been one of the ones to capitalise," said Daragh Maher, deputy head of foreign exchange research at Calyon in London. "Equity markets are up quite strongly in Europe... generally up about a percent or so, and sterling has responded," he said.
Sterling rose in tandem with other higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar. At 1429 GMT sterling was up 0.8 percent against the dollar at $1.5278, while the euro fell 0.7 percent to 88.23 pence, just shy of a session low around 88.08 pence, its weakest in 11 days. Comments by European Central Bank Governing Council member Axel Weber, had little effect on the euro.
Comments
Comments are closed.