About turn: Sterling regains losses against the dollar and euro
The pound has regained losses against both the dollar and the euro after it was whacked again in early trading this morning.
Sterling slipped below the crucial $1.27 benchmark to set another three-decade trough against the greenback as the markets opened in London – before rebounding to $1.2726, down just 0.02 per cent.
It was slower to make gains against the euro. Having sunk 0.4 per cent to a new five-year low of €1.1316 first thing, it rose slightly in mid-morning to $1.1333, 0.25 per cent down.
The pound lost two cents against both the dollar and the euro in three days as a stream of new Brexit proposals filtered out of the Conservative Party Conference.
The first hit came after Prime Minister Theresa May said Article 50 would be triggered by the end of March 2017, and as more signs that the government will be taking a hard line with Europe in the divorce proceedings emerged, sterling cascaded lower.
Yesterday afternoon the pound was helped on its way by a report suggesting the European Central Bank (ECB) is beginning discussions on how to wind up its €80bn (£70bn) a month bond-buying quantitative easing programme. The prospect of tighter monetary policy in the Eurozone put some fuel behind the euro, pushing it up against both sterling and the dollar.
Even the FTSE 100, usually boosted by weakness in the currency, could not hold on to yesterday's gains. It fell 0.3 per cent at the open to 7,053 despite shares in Tesco jumping nine per cent off the back of expectation-busting results.