GBP/INR is starting the week off on the wrong foot, as investors are closely monitoring the comments made by British and European officials regarding the potential trade deal. The official deadline set by the UK is expiring next week, but the two sides still cannot reach consensus, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that it was up to the EU if the two ink a deal or not.
The PM told BBC journalists last Friday:
“I hope that we get a deal, it’s up to our friends […] They’ve done a deal with Canada of a kind that we want – why shouldn’t they do it with us? We’re so near, we’ve been members for 45 years. It’s all there, it’s just up to them.”
Nonetheless, chances for a deal are still there. Johnson and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen had a phone call on Saturday to close the major gaps hindering a new partnership. The two agreed that the latest round of talks made some visible progress but haven’t led to any breakthrough. The EU wants the potential deal to be concluded by the end of October or the first days of next month in order to leave room for ratification.
Pound Declines After Gaining 0.50% on Friday
At the time of writing, one British pound buys 94.671 Indian rupees, down 0.11% as of 7:10 AM UTC. On Friday, the pair also started by flashing red by ended up with a 0.50% gain as the rupee suffered more from the market turmoil caused by the uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s health. The president announced that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus. A few hours ago, his doctors said that he felt much better and might be released from the hospital as early as today, giving a boost to equities and risk-oriented currencies along with the rupee.
Besides this, the pound has lost some ground after the UK reported yesterday a surge in daily coronavirus cases to a record 22,961. Authorities explained that the drastic increase is the cause of a technical glitch, as over 15,000 rest results had not been transferred into data dashboards on time. So far, this hasn’t been a great month for the sterling.
