Sterling slides as growth stalls

The pound tanked yesterday as disappointing UK growth figures forced investors to question the likelihood of a Bank of England interest rate rise next month.

Sterling fell as much as 1.1% against the US dollar in the wake of the data, which showed GDP grew by just 0.1% – much worse than economists’ predictions for a slowdown to 0.3% and down from 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

It was also the weakest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2012.

But a weaker pound supported the FTSE 100, as many multinational companies are seen to benefit when foreign currencies are stronger.

London’s blue chip index ended the day up 1.09%, or 80.78 points at 7502.21.

Brent crude prices rose by 0.2% to $74.85 a barrel.