Sterling sinks for second day on dollar strength

Sterling sinks for second day on dollar strength

LONDON - Sterling dipped for a second consecutive day against a broadly stronger dollar on Tuesday, adding to losses sustained at the start of the week on stuttering economic momentum in Britain. With currencies largely range-bound on Tuesday owing to a U.S. holiday, traders largely kept the dollar bid in morning deals in London. Hawkish comments from BoE policymaker Michael Saunders did not have a sizeable impact on the pound. Saunders said the central bank may need to raise interest rates next year if growth continues and inflation becomes stickier. Sterling, earlier trading flat on the dollar, eased 0.2% to $1.381 by 0820 GMT, trading some ways off a 4-week high of $1.3890. Against the euro, the pound traded flat at 85.90 pence. "We see sterling under pressure for a second straight day this morning, largely due to continued dollar strength which has been in evidence pretty much since the Asia open on Sunday," said Michael Brown, senior market analyst at Caxton FX. "I would assume that the market sees Saunders as an outlier on the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee), thus feels no need to reprice hawkishly based on what he's said." Brown added that on the whole, the market