According to the exit polls, David Cameron could return to Downing 10. EXIT POLL: Con: 316; Lab: 239; SNP: 58; LD: 10; UKIP. #GE2015. 316 seats is just short of an outright majority of 326 seats. A coalition with the Liberal Democrats, that get only 10 seats, would bring them to this majority. While exit polls are not real results, the past two elections have proved them to be quite accurate. The night is still young as the big lead for David Cameron is not absolute and partly comes against his current coalition partners led by Nick Clegg.
Pound/dollar jumps 150 pips to nearly 1.54 on the release of the UK exit polls. Update: the pair is already above 1.54.
GBP/USD was trading around 1.5250 towards the release of the exit polls.
Analysis: Sell opportunity on GBP/USD? 5 reasons
The markets prefer a conservative, business friendly government despite the risk of Britain leaving the EU, which would be very business unfriendly.
Here are the BBC’s numbers:
- Conservatives: 316
- Labour: 239
- SNP: 58
- Lib Dems: 10
- Plaid Cymru: 4
- Greens: 2
- Ukip: 2
Reports about a swing towards Labour in the past days were probably pre-mature. Scaring about a government with the SNP probably worked.
However, the night is still young.
More: GBP: Trading The UK Elections – Credit Agricole
Here is how the leap looks on the chart:
more coming