Cable continues to struggle, down at 1.4965 from a North American close Friday up around 1.5010. The pairing has been as low as 1.4934 in Asia.

The Ernst & Young ITEM club has come out warning that over-optimistic growth forecasts mean that the government needs to find another £10 bln in order to meet its commitment under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, while the CBI warns of fragile growth prospects.

Elsewhere weekend polls suggest we’re hurtling headlong toward a hung parliament at the next general election.

Sovereign buying has been noted overnight in cable, but so far it’s only managed to slow the slide rather than reverse the process.