- Hard-Brexit concerns weigh on the pound sterling on Friday.
- UK PM May says no deal is better than a bad deal.
- EUR/GBP remains on track to close the week in green.
After spending the first half of the day in a tight range below the 0.89 mark, the EUR/GBP rose sharply as resurfacing concerns over a no-deal Brexit weighed on the GBP. The pair, which touched a fresh two-week high at 0.8995, was last seen trading at 0.8980, where it was up 1.2% on the day.
As a response to the European Council President Donald Tusk’s remarks at the Salzburg summit yesterday, British Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a statement earlier today. Pointing out two critical issues that remain unresolved, May said that a no-deal would be better than a bad deal that would disrespect their referendum outcome. and added they wouldn’t overturn the referendum result.
Assessing the latest developments surrounding Brexit negotiations, “Gauntlet or hard line negotiation? Either interpretation serves for the EU rejection of the UK’s separation offer. Does the EU really want an agreement with Britain? Prime Minister May’s implied question to the EU cannot be answered until there is agreement or failure. The odds of a failure, however, long thought improbable by the market, have gone up notably after today’s rejection,” said Joseph Trevisani, FXStreet Senior Analyst.
Reflecting the broad-based GBP weakness, the GBP/USD pair erased more than 100 pips to touch a new weekly low at 1.3055.
Technical outlook: EUR/GBP Technical Analysis: EUR/GBP blasts higher and test 0.9000 figure as UK PM May rejects the EU’s proposals