The Irish foreign minister said a post-Brexit trade deal is expected Thursday, after a “last-minute hitch” delayed an announcement, CNBC reports.
Simon Coveney told RTE radio it will be an “enormous relief” when the deal is finally announced.
The timing of an announcement remains unclear, however, with Reuters at midday London time citing both an EU and U.K. official saying the deal could still be “hours away.” Press conferences slated for early Thursday were delayed as both sides finalized the “small text” of an agreement on fishing rights, Coveney said.
The British currency continued its move higher Thursday to trade close to levels not seen for 31 months. Sterling rose 0.8% to around $1.3593, after earlier reaching a session high of $1.3616.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% when markets opened, but slipped into the red as the morning progressed.
Officials on both sides said on Wednesday that they were optimistic about the chances of a deal, but that issues remained.
Meanwhile, EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday that the bloc was making a “final push” to strike a Brexit trade deal with Britain ahead of Dec. 31.
“We are really in a crucial moment,” Barnier told reporters on his way to brief 27 ambassadors. “We are giving it a final push. In 10 days, the U.K. … will leave the single market.”
The yields on U.K. and U.S. government bonds dipped on Thursday after rising sharply the day before on hopes of a deal. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
A deal has remained elusive in recent weeks because of strong disagreements over fishing rights, and several other issues.
The EU wants to maintain access to U.K. waters for its fishing fleets, while the U.K. wants to largely curb these fishing rights. A no-deal scenario could see EU access to U.K. waters end abruptly, and vice versa, and the U.K. has already threatened to deploy gunboats to protect British waters.
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