Pound hits seven-week high on eve of vital Brexit vote

LONDON: The British pound yesterday hit a seven-week high against the dollar as UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivered an upbeat speech on the eve of a key Brexit vote which she is expected to lose, dealers said.

Sterling bounced as high as US$ 1.2879, a level last seen in late November, after May issued a last- ditch plea for lawmakers to back her European Union divorce deal on Tuesday.

The European single currency dropped to 88.96 pence to the pound, the lowest level since early December.

World stock markets meanwhile buckled as investors seized on poor Chinese economic data which stoked renewed fears of a global slowdown.

“We all have a duty to implement the result of the referendum,” May said in an address to factory workers in Stoke, a Brexitbacking city in central England.

— AFP photo May gives a speech at a factory in Stoke-on-Trent to call on MP’s to support her Brexit bill.