Pound jumps

TOKYO: The British pound jumped on Friday after exit polls showed Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives headed for victory, while the dollar won support on hopes for a solid US jobs report later in the day.
In Tokyo afternoon trade, sterling fetched $1.5500 against $1.5262 in New York, while the euro sank to 0.7236 pounds from 0.7382 pounds. Exit polls indicated Cameron’s Conservatives have defied expectations to win the most seats in Britain’s general election while falling just short of the clear majority needed to govern alone.
As results came in, a projection by the BBC put the Conservatives one seat short of a clear majority. “The Conservative Party are perceived to be more market-friendly than a Labour government and that’s really at the core of the game,” said Sebastien Galy, a currency strategist at Societe Generale.
“Having said that, with a Conservative government, some people will reassess” their positions longer-term owing to the increased risk of Britain exiting the European Union, he added.
A Conservative-led government would mean Britain will press ahead with holding the EU membership referendum promised by Cameron by 2017.