The pound hit a six-week high as Rishi Sunak became prime minister today, another sign of the markets welcoming the country's new leader.
Sterling was up 1.8% against the dollar at $1.147, having risen by 1.92% to $1.150 earlier in the day - the highest level since 15 September.
The pound hit a six-week high as Rishi Sunak became prime minister today, another sign of the markets welcoming the country's new leader.
Sterling was up 1.8% against the dollar at $1.147, having risen by 1.92% to $1.150 earlier in the day - the highest level since 15 September.
On Friday afternoon the pound had been hovering at around $1.11, as reports emerged that Boris Johnson was planning a political comeback in a challenge to Mr Sunak.
Mr Sunak is a known quantity to the UK's financial sector, having been chancellor for two years under Mr Johnson and a former Goldman Sachs analyst and hedge fund partner before that, and it is hoped his administration will steady the markets.
He comes to the top job after Liz Truss announced big tax cuts late last month, spooking investors and prompting a massive sell-off of government bonds that forced the Bank of England to intervene.
Putting Jeremy Hunt in the chancellor's role, replacing Kwasi Kwarteng, went some way towards calming the situation, as Mr Hunt rowed back on almost every policy that had been announced in the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget.
Long-dated gilt yields, which were at the centre of the post-mini-budget chaos, have almost returned to where they were beforehand, reflecting growing investor confidence.
