Sterling tumbled to its lowest in over two weeks against the U.S. dollar after a stream of mixed data released earlier, while the European Parliament president said that there's no guarantee that a recently-hatched deal between Britain and the EU to keep the kingdom in the union with some concessions, would pass the Parliament, raising fears over possible wrangling over Britain's future in Europe.
Earlier data showed an uptick in consumer inflation in Britain to an annual 0.3% in January, in line with expectations and better than December's 0.2% rise. Other positive data included a 0.7% drop in the producer price index (input), much lower than the expected 1.2% fall.
On the other hand however, Retail Price Index rose 1.3% y/y in January, missing forecasts of a 1.4% rise, while House Price Index braked sharply in December to record a yearly rise of 6.7%, compared to November's 7.7% growth and analysts' expectations of a 7.9% rise.
Sterling tumbled more than one percent versus the dollar to a two-week trough at 1.4287. It slumped another one percent against the euro to hover around 1.2923. The biggest fall was against the yen however, sliding 1.73% to trade at 162.57.
Oil prices on the other hand returned lower after a deal in Doha between four major producers failed to impress the markets, with Brent crude futures giving up 60 cents, or 1.80% to $32.80 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures dropped nearly fifty cents, or 1.60% to trade at $29.00 a barrel.