Its Happening - Law to Tax Overseas Income Now in Progress

[webfact]

Hopes for Brexit deal lift euro, sterling

By Richard Leong

 

FILE PHOTO: A shop cash register is seen with both Sterling and Euro currency in the till at the border town of Pettigo, Ireland October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro and sterling rose against the dollar on Monday after the European Union's top negotiator said an agreement for Britain to leave the economic bloc might be reached in the coming weeks.

 

The pound in particular had been under pressure in recent weeks on anxiety that Britain would exit from the EU without any formal trading arrangement.

 

"Sterling bears have been caught off side. The euro is also getting a bump as people are jumping on a 'risk-on' sentiment," said Dean Popplewell, vice president of market analysis at OANDA in Toronto.

 

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told a forum in Slovenia a Brexit deal was "realistic in six to eight weeks."

 

Sterling <GBP=D3> was up as much as 1 percent versus the dollar. It was last up 0.9 percent at $1.3033, Reuters data showed.

The euro <EUR=EBS> rose nearly 0.4 percent at $1.15965, while it touched a near one-month low against the pound, last down over 0.5 percent <EURGBP=D4> at 88.98 pence.

 

Policy-makers at the Bank of England and European Central Bank are widely expected to leave their policy unchanged at their respective meetings on Thursday.

 

"It seems unreasonable to expect (Mario) Draghi to signal a course change" at the ECB, said Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. "It is an easy call: unanimous decision to hold after hiking rates last month," Thin added.

 

Graphic: The European Central Bank's QE Programme (https://reut.rs/2wOxrNg)

 

The more positive view on Brexit reduced safe-haven holdings of the dollar, whose decline was limited by an upbeat U.S. jobs report released on Friday and lingering worries about emerging market currencies, analysts said.

 

An index that tracks the dollar against the euro, sterling, yen and three other currencies <.DXY> was down 0.24 percent at 95.140.

Speculators' net long bets on the U.S. dollar fell to a five-week low, worth $20.60 billion in the week ended Sept. 4, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

 

Graphic: USD positions (https://reut.rs/2Czgrjk)

 

An index for emerging market currencies <.MIEM00000CUS> fell 0.5 percent to near one-week lows. The Indian rupee <INR=> fell to a record low at 72.675 per dollar, while the Hong Kong dollar <HKD=D3> hit the lower end of a trading band at 7.85 per U.S. dollar.

 

Meanwhile, the Swedish crown <SEK=D3>, which has been the worst performing currency among the majors, edged up 0.1 percent at 9.059 crown per dollar. Gains for the far right in Sunday's election were smaller than some polls had predicted - even though the country faces weeks of uncertainty as it tries to form a government.

 

(Additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in New York; Saikat Chatterjee in London; Olof Swahnberg in Stockholm; Editing by Alistair Bell and Chizu Nomiyama)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-11

[dunroaming]

Barnier tossing May a carrot.  I don't think it cuts much ice because her battles at the moment are with her own party.

[SheungWan]

9 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Barnier tossing May a carrot.  I don't think it cuts much ice because her battles at the moment are with her own party.

Its more than a carrot. If you don't think it cuts much ice then make a bet against sterling.

Edited September 11, 2018 by SheungWan