Markets Friday Close: Sterling Continues Slide to $1.3160; Gilt Yields Rise Further to 4.93%
UK markets closed Friday with sterling continuing its slide to $1.3160, materially below the seven-month low set Thursday. The FTSE 100 closed at 10,635, down 0.14%. Brent crude eased to $85.00 a barrel on continued Iran framework progress. UK 10-year gilt yields rose to 4.93%, a fresh structural high on continued Chancellor-question uncertainty. EUR/GBP rose to 0.8770 on sterling weakness. Bank of America commentary keeps the August Bank Rate cut probability above 50%. The Burnham-era fiscal-positioning architecture is now the principal Q3 market-pricing variable.
The Friday close pattern combines equity-side modest weakness on continued political-uncertainty pricing, commodity-side Brent continued ease, FX-side sterling continued slide on Chancellor-question uncertainty, and bond-side gilt yields rising. The Brent below $85 sits well below the operative Ofgem October price-cap band lower bound. The political-mathematical implication for the Burnham-era Treasury question: whoever takes the Chancellor role must materially deliver fiscal-credibility positioning to anchor the gilt market and reverse the sterling slide.