New York (awp/afp) - The British pound fell on Friday against the euro and the dollar, before final negotiations this weekend on a post-Brexit trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Traders were abandoning the currency that had climbed this week.

Around 20:00 GMT, the pound fell 0.36% against the euro, to 90.64 pence to the euro, and 0.61% against the dollar, to 1.3502 dollars to a pound.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday called post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union "difficult" and said he expected concessions from Brussels.

The day before, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament warned that if they did not receive the text of an agreement by "Sunday midnight", they would not be able to ratify it in time.

The pound was falling, but several analysts pointed to the limited reaction of the British currency compared to the extent of the damage that a no-deal exit from the single market would have on the UK economy.

"There is clearly a weariness of the market that believes that these statements are only sleeve effects," said Derek Halpenny, judging that the traders are betting instead on negotiations continued until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Gertjan Vlieghe, a member of the Bank of England (BoE), said that if the institute were to boost the Uk economy at all costs, "it would require a combination of asset purchases and probably lower rates", believing that negative interest rates were "a risk that I would be willing to take. ".

After raising the issue of setting a negative policy rate in September, the BoE's Monetary Committee did not mention the subject on Thursday at its last meeting of the year, keeping its rate at 0.1%, an all-time low.

Over the week, the pound was up 1.04% against the euro and 2.10% against the dollar.

The greenback, which had reached its lowest level in two and a half years on Thursday against the euro and other major currencies, recovered slightly on Friday (+0.24% to 1.2238 dollars per euro), while the US Congress is struggling to agree on a plan to support the economy in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The strength of the euro, around the highest in two and a half years, led to profit-taking at the end of the week," said Joe Manimbo of Western Union to explain the slight decline in the European currency.

                 Friday Classes Thursday Classes

20:00 GMT 22:00 GMT

EUR/USD 1.2238 1.2268

EUR/JPY 126.41 126.49

EUR/CHF 1.0820 1.0853

EUR/GBP 0.9064 0.9030

USD/JPY 103.32 103.11

USD/CHF 0.8842 0.8847

GBP/USD 1.3502 1.3585