Pound rebounds as ‘hard Brexit’ speculation eases

The pound gained, halting a four-day slide against the dollar, on Tuesday after UK Prime Minister Theresa May accepted that Parliament should be allowed to vote on her plan for taking Britain out of the European Union. “The Sterling was helped by news of Prime Minister May seeking room from lawmakers to negotiate the country’s exit from the EU,” said Elias Haddad, a senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “Relief rallies in pound will be limited because of concerns about how tough the negotiations will be, the U.K.’s widening current account deficit and the prospect for more negative U.K. interest rates.” The Sterling climbed 1.1 percent to $1.2258 as of 9.37 am in Tokyo, rallying from a 4.9 percent slide over the previous four days. The currency advanced 1.3 percent to 89.99 pence per Euro. On October 7, the Sterling plunged to the lowest level since 1985 versus the greenback in a move that traders blamed on possible human error and algorithms.