The pound fell against the euro by nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday evening, after the EU gave Britain a 72-hour ultimatum to secure a trade agreement or prepare to crash out the bloc with no deal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson met EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a fish dinner in Brussels in Wednesday night, which lasted three hours, to break the deadlock in talks to secure a post-Brexit trade agreement.
Both sides agreed that negotiations had reached a stalemate over the weekend and political intervention was needed.
However, the sides were not upbeat after the "lively" dinner and "significant gaps" remained between them.
Ms von der Leyen said after the meeting that the EU and the UK remained "far apart" on a post-Brexit trade deal.
The pound against the euro dropped from 1.11 to 1.10 after the news that Sunday was agreed to be the hard deadline for Britain to secure an agreement with the EU.
Sterling dropped about 0.5 per cent against the dollar, to as low as $1.3311 and last stood at $1.3345. But it stayed above this week's low of $1.3225 set on Monday.
"It looks like there won't be any agreement to present to the EU summit starting today," Ayako Sera, senior market economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Reuters.
"Markets have been quite optimistic about a deal. I'm a bit surprised."
The pound had increased before the talks earlier on Wednesday.
Talks are expected to resume on Thursday as EU leaders meet in Brussels for the European Council, where both sides initially wanted a deal to be sealed.
Score
Third Test, Day 2
New Zealand 274
Pakistan 139-3 (61 ov)
Pakistan trail by 135 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the innings
The%20specs
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Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
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