‘Busy’ pound falls to 79p against euro on Brexit fear

The pound fell for a fifth day against the dollar, its longest losing streak since January, before the Bank of England’s latest policy decision as currency traders focus on next month’s referendum on Britain’s EU membership.

The pound fell 0.2% to $1.4398 at one stage, having declined 1.7% in the previous four days. Sterling weakened 0.2% to 79.18 pence against the euro after appreciating as much as 0.5% earlier.

Still, sterling gained against most of its 16 major peers before the Bank of England’s announcement on Thursday, as well as reports this week that economists forecast will show contractions in UK industrial and manufacturing output.