Pound Rallies as Boris Johnson Maintains Lead in Elections Race

The Sterling pound today rallied higher against the weaker US dollar as Boris Johnson held on to his lead in opinion polls ahead of the December elections. The GBP/USD currency pair rallied higher despite Johnson backtracking on his initial election pledge to cut corporate taxes.
The GBP/USD currency pair today rallied from a low of 1.2916 to a high of 1.2985 in the mid-London session before retracing some of its gains later in the session.
The currency pair gapped higher at the start of the Australian session and posted further gains in the Asian session as the US dollar remained under pressure. The release of a new opinion poll by Survation showed that the Conservative Party had increased its lead over the opposition Labour Party to 14%. However, the Tories popularity came at the expense of the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage whose ratings have dropped significantly. Boris Johnson surprised business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference by abandoning his plan to cut corporate taxes. Jeremy Corbyn also angered business leaders with his plan to nationalise key industries.
The dollar’s weakness also boosted the cable amid reports that the US and China might not sign the phase one trade deal as planned. Investors were also worried about today’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell amid concerns that Powell could be fired.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by British politics, trade headlines and tomorrow’s US housing data.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2964 as at 18:23 GMT having rallied from a low of 1.2916. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 140.79 having dropped from a high of 141.57.

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