GBP/INR is rallying on Tuesday and has just updated the highest level since September 1. At the time of writing, one British pound buys 98.350 Indian rupees, up 0.94% as of 9:35 AM UTC. The pair has broken above 98.000 again after doing so at the beginning of the month, though this time it went further and is confidently aiming for 98.500.
The pound is supported by a series of fundamentals related to economic data, Brexit, and COVID.
First and foremost, volatility in global markets has surged amid fresh vaccine hopes, after Pfizer announced that its COVID vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with BioNTech was efficient in 90% of cases based on its late-stage trial.
The UK government asked the National Health Service to be ready to launch any coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year. It should be first given to the most vulnerable persons. Health minister Matt Hancock told Sky News that there were some challenges to overcome and the government should make sure the vaccine was safe.
Britain expects to get 10 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine by the end of December. Hancock said:
“I’ve asked them (the NHS) to be ready from the start of December.”
As for the vaccine tested by British AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the minister said there were no updates so far.
Johnson’s Internal Market Bill Doesn’t Pass Parliament’s Upper House
On the Brexit front, Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a defeat in the House of Lords over the Internal Market Bill, which breaches the current treaty with the European Union. The proposed laws backed by the PM aim to protect trade between the UK’s four constituent countries, but they disagree with the Withdrawal Agreement Bill consolidated last year with the EU. The parliament’s upper house voted to omit the problematic clauses from the bill. The government doesn’t have a majority in the Lords, and the clauses were opposed even by some high-profile Conservatives.
Meanwhile, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released earlier today showed that average earnings with and without bonuses beat forecasts in September. Still, British firms laid off a record number of workers in the three months to September, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.8%. This happened before finance minister Rishi Sunak extended the COVID support scheme.
