The Pound traded slightly higher on Wednesday, posting its strongest gains against the Yen as the Japanese currency stabilised following multiple rounds of intervention.
Market sentiment was supported after US President Donald Trump said his administration had held “very good discussions” with Iran during Tuesday’s day-long negotiations, helping keep oil prices near $80 a barrel.
Sterling also inched up against both the Dollar and the Euro, trading at $1.347 and 85.6 pence per Euro, respectively, while climbing 0.2% versus the Yen to 212.33, Reuters reports.
The Yen remained close to a three-month high against the US Dollar after last week’s historic joint intervention by Japanese and US authorities. It also remained near its strongest level against the Pound in five months.
Meanwhile, UK financial markets showed little reaction to a report by The Times suggesting Treasury officials are considering raising billions of Pounds through additional borrowing by making use of flexibility within the government’s fiscal rules.
Chancellor John Healey told The Times there was “scope for more and more rapid investment,” with the report suggesting any further borrowing could be directed towards infrastructure projects, housing and business support.
The newspaper report added that former Chancellor Rachel Reeves revised the UK’s fiscal rules in 2024 to factor public sector assets into assessments of government debt, creating greater flexibility for investment-focused public borrowing.
Separately, an S&P Global survey released on Wednesday indicated that the UK’s services sector returned to growth last month as new orders strengthened.
The survey also found that business confidence improved, with expectations for activity over the next 12 months reaching their highest level since before the Iran conflict began in February.
“Stronger growth projections for the year ahead partly reflected hopes of de-escalating Middle East tensions and recent signs of easing inflationary pressures,” according to Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.