Sterling weakened to its lowest in nearly 10 months on Monday amid worries about political uncertainty after an opinion poll showed supporters of Scottish independence from Britain taking the lead for the first time since the referendum campaign began. With less than two weeks to go before the vote, a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times newspaper put the "Yes" to independence campaign at 51 percent against the "no" camp at 49 percent.
Sterling fell nearly 1 percent to around $1.6165, reaching lows not seen since November 26. It last traded at $1.6222, down 0.7 percent on the day. Against the euro, the pound touched its lowest level in nearly three weeks at 80.17 pence per euro. "I think the message here is that the market really hadn't priced in the possibility of a 'yes' vote, so therefore we will probably see some uncertainty, maybe some volatility," said Jesper Bargmann, head of trading for Nordea Bank in Singapore.
Sterling could come under further pressure ahead of the September 18 referendum on Scottish independence, especially since the dollar remains firm, Bargmann said. Against the yen, sterling touched a three-month low at 169.68 yen, before recovering a bit of ground to 170.41 yen. The euro, which has come under pressure after fresh policy action from the European Central Bank last Thursday, steadied against the greenback. It traded at $1.2950, just off a 14-month low of $1.2920 set last week. The Australian dollar eased 0.1 percent to $0.9369.