2014.07.2823:10:33UTC+00Pound near 1-month low on reduced bullish bets

The British pound sterling traded around 0.2% from the lowest in a month versus the US dollar as hedge funds and other big speculators cut down their bullish bets on the currency to the least since March.

UK companies’ profit warnings in the first half climbed the most since 2012 as sterling’s world-beating rally weighed on earnings, based on Ernst & Young LLP’s report.

In the past year, the pound has rallied 11% last year, the best performer among 10 developed-nation currencies monitored by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes.

“A lot of good news is baked in the cake as far as sterling is concerned. For the time being at least it looks as if in a lot of those long positions in sterling there may be a rush for the exit,” said Ray Attrill, Global Co-Head of Currency Strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd.

The currency was slightly changed at $1.6993 as of 4:13 p.m. (London time) after it dropped to $1.6962 on July 25, the weakest since June 25. It also fell the most since March last week. Against the euro, it was slightly changed at 79.10 pence.