LONDON: The pound fell on Monday as a debate in Britain’s parliament exposed the level of dissatisfaction within British Prime Minister Theresa May’s governing Conservative Party over her plans for Brexit.
The pound fell to an intraday low of $1.3223 on news that May had bowed to pressure from Brexit supporters and accepted their changes to a customs bill that underpins Britain’s exit from the EU.
“The move in sterling is pretty contained at this point but this [accepting of amendments] is being viewed by the market as a step towards a leadership contest,” said Jordan Rochester, currencies strategist at Nomura.
Markets expect the Bank of England to hike interest rates in August but the British currency has fallen 9 per cent since April partly because of the wrangling within May’s party.
Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018
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