Pound set for biggest weekly rise in a month as Brexit fears fade

Sterling surged to multi-month highs this week after Prime Minister Theresa May said lawmakers would get to vote on a delay to Brexit if they choose not to approve her Brexit withdrawal agreement.

TOPSHOT - An anti-brexit activist flies an EU flag during a demonstration outside of the Houses of Parliament in London on February 28, 2019. British MPs agreed Wednesday to give Prime Minister Theresa May more time to work on her EU withdrawal deal after she promised they could delay Brexit if necessary, but European leaders warned that any postponement would come with conditions. MPs voted by 502 to 20 to endorse May's plan, a radical shift in strategy made only after the threat of revolt by ministers who fear Britain crashing out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal. / AFP / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS
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The pound was little changed on Friday but is still headed for its biggest weekly gain in a month as worries receded that Britain will crash out of the European Union without a deal.

Sterling surged to multi-month highs this week after Prime Minister Theresa May said lawmakers would get to vote on a delay to Brexit if they choose not to approve her Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Traders backed off forecasts for a no-deal Brexit and began to expect a delay of the departure date beyond the current March 29 deadline.

But those expectations have in turn been tempered after some lawmakers signaled their opposition to Ms May's offer of a vote on a delay.

British farming minister George Eustice resigned from the government on Thursday and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Ms May's Brexit deal with the European Union needs to change, particularly on the issue of the Northern Irish backstop.

"Sterling had to retrace some of its spectacular gains recorded earlier on in the week ... a postponement is not something that the UK can chose as it pleases," Commerzbank strategists wrote in a note.

The pound edged 0.1 per cent lower at $1.3255 (Dh4.8679). For the week, it is up 1.5 per cent. Against the euro, the pound was flat at 85.72 pence.