HONG KONG,(MILLAT+APP/AFP) – Asian investors
moved warily Tuesday as they look ahead to a crucial week for two of the world’s top economies as Britain outlines its plans for leaving the EU and Donald Trump is sworn in as US president.
Britain’s pound edged up but remains stuck near three-decade lows
against the dollar after weekend reports Prime Minister Theresa May intends to push for a clean break from the EU, including the single market and customs union.
May is due to set out her stall later Tuesday and analysts said forex
traders will be poring over her remarks, with any surprises threatening to send the pound tumbling further.
Sterling was sitting around $1.2100 Tuesday, having plunged to
$1.1986 Monday, its lowest since October’s “flash crash” that sent it to $1.1841 — a level not seen since the start of 1985.
Friday sees Trump’s inauguration, which many are eyeing with
uncertainty.
While world markets soared in the months after his November election
win he has come up short when pushed to provide details of his spending and tax plans for the world’s number one economy.
There is also unease about his campaign rhetoric in which he promised
to tear up trade deals and slap tariffs on China, which has already hit back at his comments, fuelling worries of a possible trade war.
Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, said in a note: “As
we approach the 20th January investors, themselves are at a crossroads. Will his speech see a ‘Trump pump’ or a ‘Trump slump’?
“Do you position yourself continued for irrational exuberance or the
coming of the Riders of the Apocalypse? It’s a tough question as Mr Trump’s actual policy announcements have been few, to say the least.”