Pound sterling falls

London: The pound fell on Friday after Britain´s parliament again rejected a proposed deal to withdraw from the European Union.

Sterling had been mostly stronger against both the dollar and the euro in the runup to the vote, but then fell to its lowest point against the greenback in more than two weeks.

"Sterling´s midday bounce felt a long way away on Friday afternoon, as MPs inflicted another embarrassment on a Theresa May premiership defined by them," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Lawmakers in parliament´s lower House of Commons defied May´s plea to end a political deadlock over Brexit, defeating her withdrawal agreement by 344 votes to 286. "No-one really wants to say it but we are in danger of sleepwalking into an unintended no-deal scenario here, an outcome that looked highly unlikely just a couple of weeks back, and this poses a major risk for the pound," said XTB analyst David Cheetham.

The EU Commission seemed to agree, saying after the vote that a no-deal Brexit was now a "likely scenario".

The pivotal vote came on the day Britain was supposed to leave the European Union until May asked the bloc´s leaders last week for a little more time. Stock markets, including London, meanwhile rallied, with investors looking past a downgrade of US growth to focus on the next round of top-level China-US trade talks.