* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 tmsnrt.rs\/2egbfVh<\/p>\n
* Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote tmsnrt.rs\/2hwV9Hv (Updates prices, updates vaccine data, recasts lede)<\/p>\n
LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) – The pound slipped against a broadly stronger dollar but gained ground against the euro on Monday, supported by progress in the UK\u2019s COVID-19 vaccination programme, as positioning data showed speculators were the most bullish on sterling in three years.<\/p>\n
Although Britain has Europe\u2019s biggest official coronavirus death toll, it has outperformed on the vaccination front, with more than 22 million people having received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n
In the first step towards a return to normality, schools in England reopened on Monday as part of the UK\u2019s lockdown-easing plan.<\/p>\n
At 1636 GMT, the pound was down around 0.1% against the dollar, at $1.3814.<\/p>\n
Versus the euro, it was up around 0.3%, at 85.845 pence per euro. The euro has lost around 3.9% against the pound so far in 2021.<\/p>\n
Speculators added to their net \u201clong\u201d position on the pound and are the most bullish in three years, according to CFTC futures data for the week to March 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe perception is that the economy bouncing back with the vaccine (means) there\u2019s less prospect of negative rates,\u201d said Richard Perry, analyst at Perry Market Analysis. Sterling was also still underpinned by a Brexit trade deal that Britain clinched with the European Union at the end of 2020, he said.<\/p>\n
Perry said market participants were focusing on the plans for reopening the UK economy.<\/p>\n
\u2018CAUTIONARY REALISM\u2019<\/p>\n
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey urged \u201ccautionary realism\u201d about Britain\u2019s economic prospects and said that the central bank\u2019s task was to get inflation back up to its 2% target and hold it there.<\/p>\n
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak laid out his budget plan last week, which included a further extension of pandemic stimulus packages and a corporate tax hike from 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week\u2019s Budget supports our view that the UK economy is well-positioned for the coming recovery,\u201d wrote Goldman Sachs analysts in a note to clients.<\/p>\n
JP Morgan analysts said in a note on Friday, however, that they had sold the pound because they perceived it as riskier than market expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect GBP to remain vulnerable to the ongoing re-pricing in US yields and less bullish risk backdrop,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Since Britain left the EU last year, relations between the two have soured, with each side accusing the other of acting in bad faith in relation to part of their trade agreement that covers goods movements to Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
The UK lost market share in its biggest export markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to global trade chaos, Brexit and poor productivity, research published on Monday showed.<\/p>\n