Sterling rallies to 7 month high stocks edge higher

Politics, more politics and then some technical buying have helped the pound hit the highest level in seven months against both the dollar and the euro. 

The dollar has been under pressure for several days now as the China US trade deal seemed to be slipping through their collective fingers, the notion confirmed yesterday after President Trump said that a deal may not happen until after the US elections in November 2020. 

During the same period the pound has been strengthening based on polls showing a likely Conservative win in UK elections later this month and finally after the markets opened in London sterling broke above the key $1.3 level. This spurred some technical buying this morning which was only capped after the release of the UK services PMI data showing that the sector has stopped growing for the last three months.

FTSE moves higher as China talks hang in the balance

Financial services firms traded higher bolstered by a stronger sterling while mining and metal groups also gained ground despite the latest crisis with US-China trade talks. 

Vodafone’s big news about cooperating with Amazon Web Services on computer and storage services on its network fell on deaf ears with investors and the stock declined 0.94%. This is in sharp contrast with French network operator Orange which rolled out its new five-year strategy which included higher earnings targets and potential plans for mobile tower operations.