Pound rebounds, still under pressure amid Brexit worries; U.S. dollar flat

The British pound rebounded against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday in Asia, but was still under pressure after Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow said there would be no vote on the latest Brexit deal as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had hoped.

The GBP/USD pair gained 0.2% to 1.2982 by 12:44 AM ET (04:44 GMT).

Johnson had made a deal with the EU last week in the hopes of leaving the bloc on Oct. 31. But due to legislation passed on Saturday, he was forced to ask for yet another extension. He said before that he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than ask for an extension.

Reports this week said he has resolved to press on with seeking to pass Brexit-related laws in parliament on Tuesday.

“While markets haven’t seen fit to reverse last week’s optimism that saw sterling smartly higher they aren’t yet prepared to take the pound up to the next level,” said National Australia Bank Head of FX Strategy Ray Attrill in a Reuters report.

The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was little changed at 97.023.

On the Sino-U.S. trade front, there were signs that the U.S. and China were making progress in efforts to resolve their trade dispute.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that China has begun buying U.S.-made agricultural products and that work toward ending the U.S.-China dispute was going well, while White House adviser Larry Kudlow said tariffs scheduled for December could be rollbacked if progress is made.

The AUD/USD pair inched up 0.1% to 0.6974, while the NZD/USD pair gained 0.3% to 0.6426.

The USD/JPY pair was near flat at 108.63.