THE pound fell further in late trading yesterday as traders reacted belatedly to uncertainty surrounding the Budget and to sterling's strength against the deutschmark.
The pound closed at 103.60p from 103.75p one Monday.
Earlier, sterling fell against the mark, but remarks by Bundesbank central council, member Mr Reimut Jochinsen that a further reduction in German interest rates is possible, started the mark's slide against most European currencies.
Sterling rose to 2.2370 marks from 2.2352 late on Monday.
Traders had been worried, earlier that sterling could fall as far as 2.2265 marks after the release of higher than expected money supply figures.
December's M4 showed a 10 per cent year on year growth in the money supply, while lending was up £6.3 billion. Both figures exceeded expectations. Building society net new commitments were £2.42 billion in December while new orders in construction were up a seasonally adjusted, 2 per cent in the three months to November. Dealers said the figures made it more difficult for the British government to justify its decision to cut interest rates last Thursday.
