Pound crashes 6% in Asia trade

Quickly recovered

The pound hit a new 31-year low against the US dollar in Asian trade, before quickly recovering, leaving investors to speculate about a possible trigger.

The UK currency fell more than 6% at one point to $1.1841 before recovering to $1.23, which meant it was still down 1.5% from late US levels, the BBC reports. Analysts believed an algorithm reacting to a news report was the possible trigger for the sudden fall. The pound was put under renewed pressure after Prime Minister Theresa May put a timetable on Brexit at the Conservative party conference earlier this week, saying talks would start next March. A market analyst told the BBC it was "difficult to know exactly" what triggered the tumble but it came after the Financial Times publ...