Pound suffers during Brexit deal turmoil

Market report Hannah Burley

The pound plummeted as senior ministerial resignations dealt a blow to Theresa May’s draft EU withdrawal agreement.

Sterling was still sliding as the market closed, falling 1.8 per cent against the dollar at $1.276 and losing 1.8 per cent against the euro to €1.127.

The drop came a ft erbr exit secretary dominic Raab and work and pensions secretary Esther Mcvey resigned in protest of May’s plans.

Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: “The outlook has just grown increasingly more uncertain. There are several possible paths from here, including a very high probability of a disorderly Brexit and possibly even a general election.

“Given the market’s dislike of uncertainty, volatility, mainly in sterling but also in the FTSE, could step up going forward.”

The FTSE 100 was almost flat, gaining 4.22 points to close at 7,038.01 as multinationals on the index benefited from the pound’s decline, but housebuilders and banks were in the red.

It was a bleaker outlook on the FTSE 250, which comprises more companies heavily exposed to the UK economy. The index was down 247.93 points, closing at 18,662.21.

In company news, Royal Mail’s new boss pledged a review to boost performance after the postal service revealed a 27 per cent plunge in pre-tax profits for the six months to 23 September. Shares ended the day 22.6p lower at 325.4p.

Card Factory closed down 2.2p, settling at 191.9p, even as the retailer returned to sales growth ahead of the peak festive season. Likefor-like store sales grew 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, while online sales surged 47.3 per cent.