Investing.com - Sterling regained to 1.30 level against the dollar on Monday amid optimism that Britain will soon reach a deal with the European Union that will allow UK financial services companies based to have continued access to European markets after Brexit.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.3024 by 06:00 AM ET (11:00 AM GMT), up 0.41% after hitting an intra-day low of 1.2974 earlier, following an unexpectedly weak report on UK service sector activity. The pair had hit a two week high of 1.3141 overnight.
Business activity in the UK service sector grew at the slowest pace in seven months in October, data on Monday showed, held back by heightened economic uncertainty over Brexit and wider fears over the global economic outlook.
The report, taken together with similar surveys of the manufacturing and construction sectors indicated that the rate of economic growth could slow sharply in the fourth quarter.
But demand for the pound continued to be underpinned after Reuters reported that Britain is confident that it will soon reach a deal with the EU on its post-Brexit financial services trade with the bloc.