The euro has gained a little ground against sterling as French business confidence picks up. Sterling closed at 63.68p against the euro from 63.45p a day earlier. As a result, the pound closed at 80.85p from 80.58p.

However, both sterling and the euro rose against the dollar, which was hit by negative global equity market sentiment. The euro closed at $1.0504 from $1.0447 and the pound at $1.3337 from $1.3267 on Monday.

According to Mr Jim Power, chief economist at Bank of Ireland, the euro was boosted by a very positive French business confidence survey.

However, Mr Power said, sterling would remain flavour of the month for the foreseeable future.