Sterling continues to slide amid Brexit jitters

The British pound continued its skid against the US dollar during the European session on Wednesday, to deepen its losses for the third straight day, after surrendering its 5-month high, amid political uncertainty in the British Parliament over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's approach on implementing the UK's departure from the EU ahead of its deadline at October 31.

GBP/USD fell by 0.25% to $1.2840, after opening at $1.2870, with an intraday high of $1.2898.

Sterling shed 0.7% against the dollar yesterday, to mark its second straight daily loss, as profit-taking continued from a 5-month peek of $1.3012, in addition to dollar gaining more ground against most major currencies.

The British pound also was weighed down by political uncertainty in the British Parliament over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's recent deal  with European Union, which offered Britain an exit from the EU in orderly fashion ahead of its deadline by the end of this month.

The British MPs voted 329 to 229 in favor of Johnson's Brexit plan, albeit they rejected by 322 votes to 308 the prime minister's fast-track timetable to conclude legislative process in 3 days.

Although, this is the first time the British parliament had agreed to support a Brexit, as it has previously rejected the former Prime Minister Theresa May's deal in three times, which made the EU to extend the deadline twice.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson had expressed his intentions to call for early elections, should the parliament reject his Brexit timetable, whilst, the matter is now in the hands of the EU to decide whether to extend the deadline for the UK or to keep it by the end of this month.

After the vote with the increasing hopes of passing the deal, the European Council President Donald Tusk urged the European leaders to approve the third Brexit deadline extension, which was first scheduled for March 29 this year but then it was extended to April 12, and the latest was on October 31.