Pound slides after Nick Clegg’s TV debate triumph

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The pound fell 0.36 cents against the US dollar to $1.5458 after the Liberal Democrat leader outgunned Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative opponent David Cameron on live TV. The outcome raised the chances of a hung parliament in the general election on May 6.

"If we were to see a very large swing towards the Lib-Dems nationally, we could see Labour losing seats to the Lib-Dems and that would lead to the least stable election outcome," said Adam Cole, global head of currency strategy at RBC.

"The general perception is that a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition would be very difficult."

Cole said the market was still pricing in an outright victory for the Conservatives - albeit with a small majority - and that polls showing a swing from such an outcome would only put sterling under further selling pressure.

Traders said a short squeeze was helping to limit sterling losses, but election jitters kept the pound away from yesterday's seven-week high of $1.5524.