STERLING tumbled against the dollar yesterday as fears of “hard Brexit” were reignited by weekend comments from Prime Minister Theresa May, writes Ian McConnell.
The pound tumbled to a 10-week low against the dollar. It was, at 5pm, trading around $1.2166, down nearly one-and-a-half cents from its pre-weekend close in London of $1.2313.
Sterling also dropped sharply against the euro. The single currency was, at 5pm, trading around 86.92p, up by 1.15p on its pre-weekend close.
Mrs May signalled on Sunday that she was not interested in the UK keeping “bits” of its EU membership. Her stance fuelled fears that the UK could be heading for a “hard Brexit” with loss of single market access.
She signalled yesterday that a clean break with the single market was not inevitable, but this failed to boost the pound.
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