Sterling climbed 0.3-0.4% against the greenback as the morning went on, pushing the currency back towards $1.25. Against the euro, meanwhile, the pound took back another 0.1%, causing it to climb to an effective 2 month-plus high of €1.18. Overall sterling is now at a 2 month peak against a basket of currencies, suggesting investors weren’t particularly bothered by the flaccid future growth, expanding deficit and rising national debt outlined by Philip Hammond and the OBR during yesterday’s Autumn Statement.
As is the tradition the FTSE wasn’t best pleased by the pound’s performance, the UK index dipping back under 6800 following a near 25 point fall. A smattering of red in its commodity sector – especially those losses for BHP Billiton and Shell – didn’t help the index either. As for the Eurozone indices the DAX and CAC soon found themselves flat, lacking any real reason to budge following the confirmation of Germany’s dismal Q3 growth earlier in the day.
Bar a bit of unexpected political excitement it is hard to see this afternoon providing anything noteworthy, the European indices missing the usual momentum of the all-time high-hitting Dow Jones.
