The pound traded up early on Friday morning ahead of Theresa may’s highly anticipated speech in Florence, which may be set to outline a softer Brexit.
However, gains made earlier on in the day have since dispersed, with the pound currently trading down against the euro and flat against the dollar.
She is expected to signify a more collaborative approach to negotiations, after several months of hard Brexit rhetoric. She is expected to say that it will take a “profound sense of responsibility to make this change work smoothly and sensibly”.
“If we can do that, then when this chapter of our European history is written, it will be remembered not for the differences we faced, but for the vision we showed; not for the challenges we endured but for the creativity we used to overcome them; not for a relationship that ended but a new partnership that began,” she will say.
“While the UK’s departure from the EU is inevitably a difficult process, it is in all of our interests for our negotiations to succeed.”
Markets remained quiet ahead of the speech, with the FTSE, DAX and CAC all trading level as investors await the outcome of the May’s discourse.