Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- BoE’s Bailey criticises EU pressure on City
- Travel stocks rallying again today
- Sterling has hit $1.42 today, first time since April 2018
- Also at one-year high vs euro
- Analysts: reopening plan lifts pound
- Fed chair warns US economic recovery ‘uneven and far from complete
4.28pm GMT
Although the pound has dipped back from its three-year high of $1.42, analysts suspect it could push higher this year.
Capital Economics have raised their forecast for sterling’s value at the end of 2021, from $1.40 to $1.45.
First, it could conceivably have encouraged more portfolio flows into the UK stock market given its sectoral composition – the UK has a high weighting of energy and financials, which have benefited most from the vaccine-induced rotation. And second, the UK’s vaccine rollout has been especially successful, improving the relative prospects for its economy.
4.20pm GMT
The jump in the oil price has sent shares in BP (+5%) and Royal Dutch Shell (+3.5%) higher, to around the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard.
The FTSE 100 is now up for the day, gaining 35 points or 0.5% in late trading to 6661, with the pound having slipped back.
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