Pound crashes 6% in Asia trade

Quickly recovered

clock • 1 min read

The pound hit a new 31-year low against the US dollar in Asian trade, before quickly recovering, leaving investors to speculate about a possible trigger.

The UK currency fell more than 6% at one point to $1.1841 before recovering to $1.23, which meant it was still down 1.5% from late US levels, the BBC reports. Analysts believed an algorithm reacting to a news report was the possible trigger for the sudden fall. The pound was put under renewed pressure after Prime Minister Theresa May put a timetable on Brexit at the Conservative party conference earlier this week, saying talks would start next March. A market analyst told the BBC it was "difficult to know exactly" what triggered the tumble but it came after the Financial Times publ...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Currencies

Four Graphs explaining sterling

Four Graphs explaining sterling

Four experts write

Investment Week
clock 09 January 2024 • 3 min read
BoE's Jon Cunliffe: Digital pound likely needed by 'end of the decade'

BoE's Jon Cunliffe: Digital pound likely needed by 'end of the decade'

Concerns around privacy remain

Cristian Angeloni
clock 27 October 2023 • 3 min read
Four Graphs explaining currencies

Four Graphs explaining currencies

Four experts write

clock 25 October 2023 • 2 min read
Trustpilot