The British Pound Sterling, on Thursday, February 2, hit its highest level of 2017 against the US dollar, as traders get ready for the Bank of England’s new economic forecasts.
The pound extended gains against the dollar on Thursday, having already rallied hard after MPs late Wednesday voted in favour of giving the Prime Minister power to trigger Article 50.
In morning trading in London, sterling rose above the $1.27 mark to a more than six-week high and climbed against the euro too, before retreating somewhat.
“The vote effectively confirms that the UK will leave the EU,” currency strategists at UniCredit wrote in a note to clients. Increased certainty around what Brexit might look like has in recent weeks tended to support the pound.
Sterling last week chalked up its best weekly performance since November, bolstered by a combination of greater certainty on EU divorce proceedings and a batch of robust economic data.
Since June, however, the currency remains around 15 per cent lower against the dollar and some strategists maintain that it could creep lower again before seeing any kind of sustainable recovery.
