Pound Gains 0.5% to Two-week High

The British Pound Sterling also benefited from the dollar’s weakness on Thursday,December 28, gaining as much as half a percent to hit a two-week high of $1.3456 GBP=D3.

The pound is on track for its best year against the dollar since 2009, with a more than 9 percent climb, though it is still down more than 10 percent since last year’s vote in Britain to leave the European Union.

Meanwhile, dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped as much as half a percent on Thursday to its weakest since Dec. 1 .DXY.

The euro rose almost half a percent to $1.1946 EUR=, its highest in a month. The single currency has gained more than 13 percent so far this year, well on the way to its best annual performance since 2003.

Biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin also slumped around 7 percent on Thursday, December 28, to trade just above $14,000 BTC=BTSP on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.