Pound up despite Brexit uncertainty

The pound shrugged off further Brexit developments to notch up a rise yesterday.

Sterling was trading up 0.5% at 1.315 US dollars at the end of the session, despite the International Monetary Fund warning a no-deal scenario would inflict “substantial costs” on the UK economy.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, said: “While forecasts are gloomy, expectations for a deal appear to be improving along with the more conciliatory comments in the media which is providing support to sterling.”

The pound was trading at 1.124 euros, up 0.1%.

The FTSE 100 ended the day in the red, dragged down by the stronger pound.

London’s top flight closed down 1.94 points, or 0.03%, at 7.302.1.

Top-flight mining stocks lost ground on the back of fresh trade concerns.

Glencore, Antofagasta and Anglo American slipped 1.2p, 7.6p and 1.4p respectively.

European markets were in a similarly pessimistic mood. The German Dax was down 0.23% and the French Cac 0.07% lower.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were SSE up 38.5p to 1,122.5p, Evraz up 12p to 495.7p, Carnival up 111p to 4,815p, and Smurfit Kappa up 66p to 3,124p. The biggest fallers included GVC Holdings down 36p to 995p, Scottish Mortgage Investment trust down 13.4p to 532p and Burberry down 44p to 2,109p.