GBP/USD Steadies Amid Risk-Off Market Mood

The British pound recovers from earlier losses during today’s trading despite risk-of-market sentiment clouding the financial markets due to discovering a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa. The GBP/USD pair is trading at 1.3341, up some 0.14%.

In the overnight session, market sentiment fell as South Africa announced the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant.

The World Health Organization said that it is a variant of concern, posing a threat that could confound countries’ efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.

According to sources cited by CNBC, “that the variant contains a “unique constellation” of more than 30 mutations to the spike protein, the component of the virus that binds to cells. This is significantly more than those of the delta variant”.