Pound Rises Despite Brexit Woes; Dollar Inches Up

Friday,   16-Nov-2018   04:25 PM (IST)

Sterling rallied on Friday, despite concerns over Brexit and the resignation of key officials in Prime Minister Theresa May’s government.GBP/USD rose 0.34% to 1.2818, after slumping to 1.2739 on Thursday after Brexit minister Dominic Raab resigned.Raad said he could not support the prime minister’s support terms of the the draft.Meanwhile at least 16 members of the Conservative Party have called for a vote of no confidence in May, increasing the chance of the country leaving the European Union in March without a deal.Without a deal, the UK would move to customs arrangement set by the World Trade Organization for external states.The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09% to 96.88, as trade war uncertainty lingered.A White House official told Reuters on Thursday that China’s written response to U.S. demands for trade reform are unlikely to lead to a deal in talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit later this month.Tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods is set to increase to 25% from 10% on Jan. 1. The dollar was lower against the safe-heaven Japanese yen, with USD/JPY falling 0.30% to 113.30. In times of uncertainty, investors tend to invest in the Japanese yen, which is considered a safe asset during periods of risk aversion.Elsewhere, EUR/USD inched down 0.01% to 1.1326. The NZD/USD fell 0.37% to 0.6803, while AUD/USD decreased 0.30% to 0.7254.