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LONDON: Sterling tumbled to a one-week low below $1.50 on Tuesday on a battery of weak economic data and as credit ratings firms warned on Britain's sovereign rating and those of its commercial banks.
Political uncertainty about a hung parliament as the latest opinion polls showed a close race in key marginal seats also hurt the pound, as well as a general pullback in riskier assets.
Data on Tuesday showed the UK trade deficit rose in January to its widest since August 2008, and far larger than expected at 7.987 billion pounds on a sharp drop in exports.
The pound dropped to $1.4936, its lowest since March 2, from a peak of $1.5197 hit on Monday. That was the high after the pair had hit a 10-month low of $1.4781 on March 1.
By 1502 GMT, sterling was down 0.5 per cent on the day at $1.4981. It has fallen some seven per cent since the start of the year.
The pound also fell 2.0 per cent against a broadly higher yen as traders bought the low-yielding Japanese currency on a decline in equities and other riskier assets.
The euro rose 0.1 per cent to 90.57 pence. Earlier, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its monthly house price balance dropped to +17 in February from a downwardly revised +31 in January, the sharpest one-month fall since April 2008. -Reuters
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