The pound has fallen again in the aftermath of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini-Budget” in September.
The latest drop, which saw £1 sterling buy $1.10, came after Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, announced he was ending an emergency package to prop up pension funds.
Britain’s currency also fell against the Albanian Lek (131.80, down from 132.81), the Lebanese pound (1,661.56, down from 1,674.35) and the Malaysian Ringgit (5.14, down from 5.19).
Currency traders reacted after Mr Bailey said that the £65bn package he announced following Mr Kwarteng’s statement to save some pension funds from collapsing was being wrapped up at the end of the week.
Earlier, the Bank intervened for the second time in as many days to prevent “fire sales” of pension fund assets, amid the continuing market turmoil in the wake of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget.
But speaking later in Washington, governor Andrew Bailey warned there could be no further extension beyond the end of the week.
“My message to the (pension) funds involved – you’ve got three days left now. You have got to get this done,” he said. “Part of the essence of a financial stability intervention is that it is clearly temporary.”
But that message appeared to be contradicted on Wednesday by a report in the Financial Times, which cited people briefed on discussions with the Bank of England to report that officials there have signalled privately that the emergency bond-buying programme could indeed be extended.
Following Mr Bailey’s remarks, sterling fell more than a cent against the dollar to its lowest rate since September 29.
Earlier, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, representing the industry, welcomed the Bank’s latest intervention but warned against ending it “too soon”.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
