Thursday, 17th October: The pound can’t seem to catch a break after yesterday’s roller-coaster carries on through Thursday. The market jumped to joy too soon on Thursday morning following the announcement that the UK and EU finally came to an agreement. The news sent the pound soaring more than 1.0% higher in the morning at around $1.297. However, by mid-day it had flipped into negative territory after Northern Ireland’s DUP strongly voiced their opinion that they would not back the deal and would vote against it.
A clearer beneficiary of the news was the FTSE 100, which spent most of the day gradually rising. Brexit aside, the biggest winner on the 250 today was WH Smith, up almost 6.0% at the end of the day following the announcement that they will be purchasing Marshall Retail Group for £300 million, helping their exposure in the US as the British high-street remains a difficult place.
The market also welcomed Domino’s decision to exit international markets which has been causing them more issues than benefiting them, and it will allow them to focus solely on the U.K and Ireland where they thrive.
After initially bloating on Brexit news, by the end of the day the FTSE 100 and sterling had deflated. The FTSE 100 closed 0.2% higher at 7182.32 and at the same time GBP/USD was 0.19% higher at $1.28479.
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