Markets bet UK Brexit deal will still be done

Sterling recovered from its sell-off in the wake of the British parliament’s Brexit votes, as investors bet the UK government would still avoid exiting the EU without an agreed trade deal in place.

The UK currency had initially slid 0.7% after MPs voted to demand prime minister Theresa May renegotiate the terms of Brexit she had struck only weeks earlier with the EU but rejected an amendment that would have postponed Britain’s scheduled March 29 departure.