Pound Extends Gain As Scotland's Voting Gets Underway

09:56, 18th September 2014

(RTTNews) - The pound extended its early gains against the other major currencies on Thursday, as voting got underway in Scotland for a referendum on whether to break away from the U.K. or remain with it as a Union.

Polls show that the vote will be close, though latest survey put "No" campaign on a narrow lead, against "Yes" option.

More than four million Scots are expected to cast vote at 2,600 locations across the country until 21:00 GMT on Thursday. The result will come out on Friday morning before European stock markets open.

The pound appreciated to 1.5380 against the franc, a 1-1/2-month high, while approaching more than a 6-year high of 178.28 against the Japanese yen.

The pound hit more than a 2-year high of 0.7852 against the euro and a 2-week high of 1.6386 against dollar, compared to Wednesday's closing values of 0.7897 and 1.6269, respectively.

The next possible resistance for the pound lies around 1.65 against the greenback, 180.00 against the yen, 0.775 against the euro and 1.55 against the franc.