LONDON MARKETS: Pound Drops As High Hurdles Remain For Brexit Deal

By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

FTSE 100 flat; ASOS soars on results

The pound was under pressure and U.K. stocks were struggling as investors took in headlines pointing to tough hurdles on the Brexit-deal front on Wednesday.

The U.K. FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 7,201.08, while the British pound fell across as the possibly of the U.K. reaching an exit-deal with the bloc ahead of the start of a two-day EU summit that begins Thursday looked increasingly bleak.

EU and U.K. negotiators failed to reach a breakthrough (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pressure-is-on-for-brexit-negotiators-as-all-night-talks-fail-to-yield-a-breakthrough-2019-10-16) in all-night Brussels talks which will continue on Wednesday. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said "many issues" must be resolved before an exit deal for the U.K. can be reached, according to media reports (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50063022), while an EU official said any deal would be unlikely without more U.K. concessions, said a Bloomberg report (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16).

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-slides-after-report-eu-refers-to-brexit-deal-impossible-without-uk-concession-2019-10-16)The pound , which has swung back and forth in recent sessions on Brexit headlines, fell 0.3% to $1.2751 against the dollar.

Elsewhere, shares of ASOS PLC (ASC.LN) soared 20% after the U.K. online retailer reported a 68% drop in profit for fiscal 2019, but said the new fiscal year has gotten off to a solid start.

"The initial share price reaction to the results reflect a leap of faith, after management assurances that the latter part of the year was rather more positive, to the extent that it can look forward to the next period with confidence," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, in a note to clients.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2019 07:48 ET (11:48 GMT)

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