Currency investors take advantage of slide in sterling

With the pound dropping to a record low against the euro on 1 September and falling to a two and a half year low against the dollar yesterday, currency investors are capitalising on this by trading heavily in GBP/USD. Barclays Stockbrokers saw 86 per cent of all trades in this currency pair on 1 September while the pound was falling dramatically.

FX trading allows investors to "short the market" and speculate that a currency will continue to fall versus another currency and therefore gain returns from trading in the right direction.

Barbara-Ann King, Head of Proposition, Barclays Stockbrokers commented: "We have seen a shift in client sentiment over the last few weeks with some clients selling sterling against a variety of currencies as the UK economy continues to face challenging times. But as expected we see that traders are taking advantage of these market conditions and since launch we have seen a strong take up of our FX product."