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STERLING SUFFERED A dizzying “flash crash” against the euro and dollar today in a computer-generated sell-off, sending Brexit shockwaves across markets.
The pound plunged more than 6% against the dollar in under ten minutes in Asian trading hours at the end of a tumultuous week of heavy losses.
The rough week for the pound comes after Prime Minister Theresa May signalled she would trigger Britain’s departure from the European Union by the end of March.
A spokesman for the Bank of England said that it was “looking into” the cause of the flash crash — a vertiginous drop in an asset’s value that can be triggered and exacerbated by automated trading systems.
Speaking Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said the EU should take a tough line with London during exit talks to prevent the break-up of the bloc.
“The value of sterling plummeted overnight as algorithmic trading programmes apparently triggered a crash,” said XTB analyst David Cheetham.
Comments from French President Hollande (surfaced) a minute before the selling began, so it seems far more plausible that news-scanning algorithmic trading systems began a move which gathered momentum.
Cheetham added that a combination of trades placed by algorithms and stop-loss orders can “exacerbate the move.”
The pound fell off a cliff at about 2310 GMT last night to strike a 31-year low at $1.1841, before rebounding back above $1.24.
The euro also hit a 6.5-year-high at 94.15 pence.
‘Fat-fingered trader?’
“A lot of investors are still scratching their heads as to how and why it happened, whether it was a fat fingered trader in Tokyo, an algorithm scanning for any negative Brexit news, or just a big seller of the pound,” said analyst Alex Edwards at trading firm UKForex.
“Whatever it was, it shows us that the pound is looking very vulnerable right now.”
Approaching midday in London, the pound rowed back to $1.2368, while the euro stood at 89.99 pence.
The crash was the second-largest intra-day decline in the pound, bettered only by its precipitous 11 %slump on 24 June 24, when the shock Brexit result emerged.
After rebounding, the pound again fell sharply this week on fears of a so-called “hard Brexit” that would see Britain depart the single market, or tariff-free zone, and end free movement of people into the country.
© – AFP 2016 with reporting from Rónán Duffy
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So the bollards were removed in Nov 2023 by some amadan.
Reported in January by a concerned resident, and the council couldn’t complete the complicated task of replacing the bollards, mitigating the risk at the dangerous junction 4 months after reporting , 6 months after it occurred.
Poor woman. Such needless loss of life on Irish roads. We all need to take collective responsibility and cop on.
Seriously what use are plastic bollards to protect vulnerable cyclists, poor young woman
@Terry Molloy: Drivers see the bollards and should take heed and slow down for cyclists or pedestrians but in this case some headcase removed them resulting needlessly in a young womans death
@barry williams: The article suggests the bollards were ‘dug up’, which requires a lot of effort, and equipment, far more than simple removal.
And time.
There seems to be more to this than meets the eye.
@Jimmy Wallace: If those bollards were in place then the vehicle would have had to strike them – possibly causing damage to the vehicle – to also collide with the cyclist.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: If they are like the ones I’m thinking of, they are flexible when hit and spring back upright afterwards causing no damage to any vehicle. They unfortunately can be screwed out of the ground easily and this used to happen in my local area where young lads would be messing with them at night. They are better than nothing, but no substitute for proper segregated off road cycle lanes which actually protect cyclists and encourage cycling in any countries which have them.
@Terry Molloy: Sad reality is that some drivers are more concerned to avoid scraping their paintwork off a fixed object than to avoid a cyclist. Studies show them slowing down more for bollards than pedestrians/ cyclists
@Longlin: Thanks Longlin.
@Terry Molloy: read what Barry said Terry – they work just understand that..far far better to have them at junctions like that than not…
Large trucks have to drive over these plastic bollards on some roads when turning.
No accountability yet again for our “public servants” who will, yet again, skip off without answering any hard questions.
These cycle lanes are a nightmare where Safety has not been prioritised
Please let the person who removed them get the Karma deserved
have your say