Sterling was on the back foot on currency markets on Friday as Britain entered another political rollercoaster after the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to a weekly low of $1.115, reversing a brief rally after Ms Truss announced her departure. It dropped 0.5 per cent against the euro, to €1.142.
The slide came as Conservative MPs began manoeuvring for the frantic week-long leadership contest to succeed Ms Truss.
The picture was highly uncertain, with Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt in the frame to succeed Ms Truss but none of them considered the clear favourite.
Negative news from economic indicators also weighed on the market. Friday figures showed lower consumer spending and higher government borrowing than expected last month, underlining the scale of the economic challenge.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.6 per cent in early trading.
The yield on the British government's 30-year bond, or gilt, climbed back above four per cent on Friday as traders mulled over the political crisis.
"The problems facing the UK have not gone away, despite the removal of Liz Truss as PM," Stuart Cole, chief macroeconomist at brokerage Equiti Capital and a former Bank of England trader, told The National.
Mr Cole said sterling's slide was partly down to a strong dollar, but also reflected the ongoing political turmoil.
"It is further change and every time this happens the bar for restoring investor credibility in gilts, sterling – indeed the UK in general – gets raised higher,and I think we are seeing this being reflected today as both sterling and UK assets take a move lower," he said.
"I think it will be at least the New Year before a modicum of confidence starts to return."
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in response to the new economic figures that he would make the "difficult decisions" to reassure markets about the state of Britain's finances.
"We will do whatever is necessary to drive down debt in the medium term and to ensure that taxpayers’ money is well spent, putting the public finances on a sustainable path as we grow the economy," he said.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said markets were retracing their initial moves as they take in the "huge uncertainty" that remains.
"The economic policies [of Ms Truss] were already dead in the water so the market doesn't have a huge amount of genuine new information to move on despite the seismic events of the last 24 hours," he said.
Potential Conservative leadership candidates - in pictures
Market moves have been eagerly watched in Westminster since a botched mini-budget on September 23 drove Britain into economic turmoil.
The package of more than £40 billion ($44.5bn) in tax cuts led to a crash in sterling's value, a jump in mortgage costs and an emergency intervention by the Bank of England to protect pension funds.
Ms Truss's authority never recovered from the mayhem and she announced her resignation on her 45th day in office, making her Britain's shortest-serving prime minister.
The contest to succeed her is being compressed into a week so that the new leader will be in place before October 31, when the chancellor is expected to set out a new fiscal plan.
A budget forecast will be published on that date after Mr Hunt tore up the Truss plan, by cancelling cuts in income and corporation tax and reining in subsidies for energy bills.
Allies of Mr Sunak, who has yet to say whether he will enter the race, said the former chancellor had been vindicated after advising against Ms Truss's tax cuts over the summer.
But supporters of Mr Johnson say he is the man to lead the Tories out of a catastrophic polling slump, having won the last election with an 80-seat majority.
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster with a decades-long career in TV. He has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others. Karam is also the founder of Takreem.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
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DAY%20ONE%20RESULT
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Final: UAE beat Qatar by nine wickets
Third-place play-off: Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by five runs
Table
1 UAE 5 5 0 10
2 Qatar 5 4 1 8
3 Saudi 5 3 2 6
4 Kuwait 5 2 3 4
5 Bahrain 5 1 4 2
6 Maldives 5 0 5 0
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe
Four stars
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Floyd Mayweather
- Height
- Weight
- Reach
- Record
Conor McGregor
- Height
- Weight
- Reach
- Record
SPECS
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Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The%20specs
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
RACE RESULTS
1. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 1hr 21min 48.527sec
2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) at 0.658sec
3. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull) 6.012
4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 7.430
5. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN/Ferrari) 20.370
6. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Haas) 1:13.160
7. Sergio Pérez (MEX/Force India) 1 lap
8. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Force India) 1 lap
9. Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams) 1 lap
10. Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams) 1 lap
11. Jolyon Palmer (GBR/Renault) 1 lap
12. Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren) 1 lap
13. Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Renault) 1 lap
14. Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber) 1 lap
15. Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber) 2 laps
16. Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso) 3 laps
