Sterling edged lower this morning as Britain and the European Union looked far from finding a post-Brexit agreement trade on Northern Ireland, while Bank of England interest rate raise bets ebbed.
Britain left the EU last year but has since put off implementing some of the border checks between its province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland that the bloc says London is obliged to under their divorce deal.
Sterling was under renewed pressure after the Irish government ministers met to dust off contingency plans in case disagreements between Britain and the EU trigger major trade disruption.
In its November policy meeting, BoE left its main interest rate unchanged at 0.1% having previously signalled it could raise it. Markets are now pricing a December interest rate rise, but uncertainty remains high.
Investors are also waiting for U.S. consumer price index data for October set to be released later in the day as global inflation readings are under scrutiny for evidence of whether rising prices will encourage policy makers at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere to adjust their monetary policies.
GBP/EUR 1.1680 GBP/USD 1.3527 GBP/AED 4.9620
GBP/AUD 1.8358 GBP/CHF 1.2336 GBP/CAD 1.6808
GBP/NZD 1.9032 EUR/USD 1.1566 GBP/ZAR 20.369