Pound dives to two-year dollar low - papers 2 Sep

Although Treasury officials stressed that the chancellor was talking about the credit crunch and high oil and food prices facing the world economy more generally, traders sold the pound heavily, pushing it to less than $1.80 at one point and to 81.4p to the euro. A month ago the pound would buy $2 and a euro could be bought for 78p. Bank of England data show that sterling has fallen almost 5% in the past month against a basket of major currencies, pummelled by a string of weak economic data, suggesting growth had ground to a halt in the second quarter of the year. THE GOVERNMENT-BACKED ...