Focus on border as factory output booms

Investors are focusing on the threat of a hard Irish border scuppering tense Brexit talks involving Ireland, the EU and the UK, as European manufacturing surveys showed factory output racing ahead at its fastest pace for 20 years.

However, sterling slipped from a two-month high against the dollar and traded lower against the euro, at 88p, as investors flagged concerns about the UK reaching a deal with the EU over the border.