Sterling has been subdued for much of April, but was trading up against major currencies early today. At 9.14am UK time, the pound was trading at €1.1594 as it nudged nearer to €1.160. Against the US dollar, Sterling was at $1.2940. Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex, said the pound looks unlikely to post a major late-April recovery.
He said: “Having opened the month at $1.302, with a high just shy of $1.32 a few days later, cable now finds floating around $1.294.
“This is an improvement on last week’s sub-$1.287 lows, but a sign of investors’ waning confidence in the currency.
“Things are only marginally better against the euro, with the pound now flat on the month.
“The Halloween Brexit extension proved less to be a sterling-booster, and more a value-eroding reminder that no-one on the UK side of the equation knows what they are doing.”
This week the main financial event will be the Bank of England rate meeting at lunchtime on Thursday.
It is expected to end with an announcement which could send Sterling moving against other currencies.
The BoE is anticipated to keep interest rates the same this week, with analysts suggesting Brexit uncertainty will keep rates on hold until a breakthrough emerges.
Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives could be braced for an election wipeout this week with the party standing to lose as many as 1,000 seats across 248 councils in England.
A senior party member told the Sunday Express that “even before the problems with Brexit we calculated we will lose more than 1,000 [remaining] seats.”
The last time the council seats up for election on Thursday were fought was in 2015 not on the heels of the surprise Tory general election victory when the party was flying high.
At the time the Conservatives won 5,521 seats, up 541 and almost 60 per cent of the seats available.
This week will also see the release of PMIs for April.
The Manufacturing PMI is out on Wednesday, followed by the Construction PMI on Thursday.