Sterling supported by news Rishi Sunak to be UK prime minister
The Hindu
The British currency rose as far as $1.1402 in Asian trading after Sunak's rival Boris Johnson withdrew from the race
Sterling took support on Monday from news former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is set to become British prime minister after other candidates quit the race to lead the Conservative Party.
The pound was an outlier among major currencies as most others weakened against the U.S. dollar. It rose as far as $1.1402 in Asian trading after Mr. Sunak's rival Boris Johnson withdrew from the race before the currency pared gains to trade down 0.2% at $1.1290.
Sterling's moves against the euro were sharper with the common currency falling 0.25% to 87.1 pence.
Mr. Sunak, one of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, will be asked to form a government by King Charles, replacing Ms. Liz Truss, the outgoing leader who only lasted six weeks in the job.
"It seems that the announcement was pretty well priced in by this point - especially after sterling’s notable gains at the Asia open last night," said Michael Brown, head of Market intelligence at Caxton.
"Having said that, Mr. Sunak taking over as PM should restore a significant amount of credibility around UK policy, which is likely to limit downside for sterling assets in the near term."
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had raced home from a holiday to see if he could enter the ballot. However, he said on Sunday that while he had secured sufficient support to proceed to a vote by Conservative Party members, he realised that he could not govern effectively "unless you have a united party in parliament".