European shares fall on political worries over Greece and Italy, as JP Morgan says hung parliament could be positive for pound

A hung parliament could be positive for the pound, strategists at U.S. investment bank JP Morgan argued, as investors braced for a volatile run in to the general election next week.
The pound has risen by almost 4pc since Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election on the assumption a landslide victory for the Conservatives would strengthen the party’s hand in Brexit negotiations.
But opinion polls showed that the Conservatives’ lead over the Labour opposition narrowed to just 5 percentage points on Friday, prompting the pound steepest daily fall since January.
However, the U.S. bank, the world’s second biggest trader of currencies, thinks these last-minute political jitters are misplaced. Strategists at the bank believe the prospect of a ‘less disruptive Brexit’ under a Labour-led government might see the pound react positively to a defeat for the Conservatives.

This post was published at The Telegraph