Dollar gains, sterling slides after Christmas

London

THE dollar inched higher against the yen and a handful of other major currencies in holiday-thinned trade on Tuesday, with sterling experiencing by far the biggest fall as concerns over next year's Brexit negotiations continued to weigh heavily.

Going into the final week of 2017, the trend remains towards a stronger US currency, although a one per cent retreat for the greenback before Christmas suggested any attack on 120 yen and parity with the euro may have to wait until January.