Sterling spikes on Conservative majority

Landslide win for Tories

The pound surged against both the US dollar and euro after the Conservatives won a landslide majority at the UK General Election on Thursday (12 December).

Sterling jumped almost 3% to touch 1.3514 against the US dollar, a 19-month high, as markets celebrated the defeat of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party. Against the euro, sterling hit a high not seen since the referendum vote back in June 2016, at 1.2078 - a rise of around 2.5%. Richard Buxton, head of UK equities at Merian Global Investors, said the pound's initial reaction was "a little more muted than might have been expected". However, he added, the breaching of 1.20 against the euro "feels significant, and I would not be surprised to see sterling strengthen further from here". Buxton ...