UK pound sterling gained against the US dollar and the euro on Thursday morning, following the vote in the UK parliament to take a 'no deal' Brexit scenario off the table.

Michael Baker, a financial Analyst with ETX Capital, said that 'no deal' had been weighing heavily on the minds of investors and the rise in the value of sterling reflected their relief.

He added that investors now wanted an end to the uncertainty.

London - 14 March 2019

1. Set-up of Michael Baker, Financial Analyst at ETX Capital

2. Screen showing stock indexes

3. Close of Baker

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Baker, Financial Analyst at ETX Capital:

"Well, we saw a degree of certainty last night with 'no deal' being taken off the table. Parliament once again has gone against government and decided that 'no deal' should not be an option. We've seen sterling naturally rally up as instability has now been taken out. We saw the pound go against the dollar, up to a nine-month high, against the euro up to twenty-month highs. Now it's kind of come off a little bit, now waiting for tonight's vote but generally quite a positive reaction with the hope now that it's (Article 50) going to be extended for a minimum of three months. Further options now looking to ratifiy a deal or possibly even more extreme efforts such as another referendum or a general election."

5. Analyst sitting at desk looking at multiple screens

6. Various of screens showing currency index

7. Wide of office

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Baker, Financial Analyst with ETX Capital:

"It (no-deal scenario) has been weighing on it now for the last two or three years. It would be a leap into the unknown to leave without any sort of trade agreements and the fear of what could happen on the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, so it's been weighing on it quite heavily, so what's why you've seen quite a reaction last night, it was a two percent move up against the dollar when the actual no deal was announced, so you can just see that investors who drive the pound were happy with that scenario."

9. Various of office, analysts looking at screens

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Baker, Financial Analyst with ETX Capital:

"They (investors) are looking for a deal, they're looking for a stability, they're looking for all of this to be put behind us now. It's been going on for a long time now, as you speak to a lot of guys, a lot of businesses, it's kind of wearing thin on them as well. They want an outcome, they want a deal put in place so we don't have this limbo because investment is drying up. It's been tough, it's been tough for them and they want the best outcome now."

11. Wide of office block

The FTSE 100 was slightly up following the shock general election result on Friday morning, but the pound lost value against the both the dollar and euro.

The FSTE 100 was up 1.1 percent as markets opened and traders digested news that Theresa May's Conservatives have fallen short of an overall Commons majority.

London - 10 June 2017

1. Various of traders at IG

2. Various set ups of Chris Beauchamp, Chief Markets Analyst at IG Group

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Beauchamp, Chief Markets Analyst at IG group:

"We certainly saw quite a reaction overnight once the exit poll came out and as the result has come through it's proven the exit poll to be correct with the pound dropping sharply against the dollar and the Euro. The FTSE 100 is slightly weaker overnight but it is actually rising in the wake of the open, basically when you see the currency weaken you see the FTSE 100 go up so it's a replay in miniature with what we had with the Brexit vote. I think it's the market worrying about the outlook for a hung parliament and clearly the Brexit negotiations which begin in 11 days but also those FTSE 100 companies now look a bit cheaper in dollar terms than they did just a few hours ago."

4. Cutaway

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Beauchamp, Chief Markets Analyst at IG group:

"In the way the thinking runs is actually you might get much less of a hard Brexit in fact it might be the most modest of soft Brexits really with the UK looking to stay within the framework of the European Union with the single market, free movement of people sort of associate membership. It really has changed the terms of the negotiations at this point and does weaken the prime minister's hand to some extent but if it means UK's integration remains fairly high with the rest of Europe then the market's fairly happy with that."

6. Cutaway

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Beauchamp, Chief Markets Analyst at IG group:

"Well it's certainly a matter of what happens over the next few weeks. If you look back to 2010 sterling dropped on the day and then continued to decline afterwards in the weeks after a hung parliament, that's because the negotiations dragged on a bit and it doesn't look like that will happen this time around so you might see the pound recovering a bit more ground as the day goes on."

8. Trading floor