Pound moves higher after mini-budget U-turns

The pound has moved higher after the government announced a series of U-turns, abandoning tax-cutting policies announced in last month’s mini-budget. 

Sterling gained around 0.9% to trade above $1.12 in Monday trading. 

The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt is set to fast-track many billions of pounds worth of tax and spending measures. 

On Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor and replaced by Hunt – following massive turmoil on the financial markets over Kwarteng and PM Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget. 

The mini-budget caused the pound to sink to a record low and UK government bond prices also fell sharply. 

The government bond market is set to reopen at 08:00 BST (07:00 GMT) – and will be the first time it has opened since the Bank of England ended its emergency support on Friday.