Sterling Up On Relief At Quiet Weekend

The British Pound rose above $1.7500 for the first time since October 15 on the back of increasing risk appetite. The first weekend without major global systemic news and evidence that recent efforts are making an impact have started to restore risk appetite. Although the announcement of the $10 billion dollar lifeline that the Netherland’s government gave to bank ING would have been news worth, but relative to the headlines from the past month, it was just viewed as some final housekeeping. Meanwhile, the Sterling shrugged off a report showing the U.K.’s budget deficit increasing to 8.1 million pounds - the highest on record.

The Pound Sterling may see a week of significant volatility as the calendar has a slew of event risk with the BoE minutes, retail sales and 3Q GDP due to cross the wires. The minutes from the central bank’s last rate reduction which led a coordinated rate cut from the major economies will give insight to the level of concern at the time and the possibility of future easing.

At 11.30am BST the pound was $1.7435, having earlier hit $1.7515.