LONDON MARKETS: Pound Volatile As Brexit Deal Hangs In The Balance
October 16 2019 - 9:12AM
Dow Jones News
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
FTSE 100 drops; ASOS soars on results
The pound was on a rollercoaster ride Wednesday, while U.K.
stocks fell as investors rode a wave of headlines updating on the
Brexit-deal front.
The U.K. FTSE 100 was down 0.3% to 7,184.21, while the British
pound struggled as the possibly of the U.K. reaching an exit-deal
with the bloc ahead of the start of a two-day EU summit that begins
Thursday hung in the balance.
EU and U.K. negotiators failed to reach a breakthrough
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pressure-is-on-for-brexit-negotiators-as-all-night-talks-fail-to-yield-a-breakthrough-2019-10-16)
in all-night Brussels talks which will continue on Wednesday. Irish
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said "many issues" must be resolved before
an exit deal for the U.K. can be reached, according to media
reports (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50063022), while an
EU official said any deal would be unlikely without more U.K.
concessions, said a Bloomberg report
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16).
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16)The
pound shot to a June high
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/british-pound-volatile-after-report-says-major-brexit-deal-obstacle-removed-2019-10-16)
briefly later in the afternoon, after Irish broadcaster RTE
reported the Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party was accepting the
so-called consent element of the revised Brexit agreement, seen as
the last big obstacle to a deal. But the pound backed down after
DUP's leader Arlene Foster reportedly denied the report and said
talks will continue.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16)The
pound , which has swung back and forth in recent sessions on Brexit
headlines, was last trading flat at $1.2793 against the dollar.
Elsewhere, shares of ASOS PLC (ASC.LN) soared 20% after the U.K.
online retailer reported a 68% drop in profit for fiscal 2019, but
said the new fiscal year has gotten off to a solid start.
"The initial share price reaction to the results reflect a leap
of faith, after management assurances that the latter part of the
year was rather more positive, to the extent that it can look
forward to the next period with confidence," said Richard Hunter,
head of markets at Interactive Investor, in a note to clients.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 16, 2019 08:57 ET (12:57 GMT)
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