The pound and the dollars of New Zealand and Australia were the big currency movers on Monday.

After the news emerged overnight that the UK government has scrapped plans to cut the higher rate of tax, GBP jumped against the dollar and euro.

Sterling was up 0.2% against the US dollar, 0.5% higher on the euro and 0.6% against the Swiss franc.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng issued a statement, hours before he had been due to defend the plans at the Conservative Party conference, saying: "We are not proceeding with the abolition of the 45p tax rate."

"We get it, and we have listened," he added.

The pound jumped as speculation of the U-turn broke but conceded some of those gains as the news was confirmed.

The Kiwi was an even bigger gainer, gaining ahead of an expected rate hike later in the week. NZD/USD was up 1.1%, while against GBP it rose 0.7%.

Its fellow ‘down under dollar’ was also rising on anticipated central bank action. AUD/USD climbed 0.7% and versus the GBP inched up 0.4%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia meets on Tuesday and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday.

Financial markets are expecting both central banks to lift interest rates by 50 basis points.

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