Sterling climbs amid spotlight on growth The pound started Monday in positive fashion as traders prepared for the UK currency to take centre stage later in the week, positioning themselves for some broadly sterling-positive events. The pound jumped 0.3 per cent against the dollar, to $1.5881, while the sterling index gained 0.3 per cent to 81.8, hitting a 13-month high ahead of the UK's Budget announcement and the release of the Bank of England's minutes on Wednesday. UK consumer price data released on Tuesday, retail sales data on Thursday and consumer confidence data due on Friday, were expected to keep sterling in the spotlight throughout the week. And while analysts were not expecting the Budget to be a major economic event, the cumulative effect of the multiple data releases may well be significant. Jane Foley, senior currency strategist with Rabobank, said: "If the government is successful in creating a pro-growth budget while keeping the purse strings tied, sterling may see some benefit. However, there is risk that the pound will see greater incentive from the release of the minutes of the March Monetary Policy Committee meeting. The euro shed value on Monday as its week began in risk-averse fashion amid a lack of significant economic data releases. The single currency fell 0.2 per cent against the US dollar to a low of $1.3143 while it shed 0.3 per cent against sterling to £0.8284. However, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed euro short positions reversing noticeably, which suggests investors may be becoming tired of betting against the single currency. That said, very large short positions were still being held. The dollar failed to recover the ground it lost on Friday after US inflation data, which suggested the Federal Reserve might not tighten monetary policy as soon as had been thought, sent the dollar index down 0.6 per cent. The dollar also continued to lose ground against the Japanese yen. The greenback lost 0.1 per cent on Friday as investors looked to book profit following the yen's 9 per cent increase against the dollar since the start of February. The yen gained 0.3 per cent against the dollar on Monday, to Y83.17, after falling back earlier in the morning. The Japanese currency also climbed against the euro, up 0.5 per cent to Y109.34, after falling 0.2 per cent to a five-month low in early trading. Oil prices ticked lower on Monday following Saudi Arabia's efforts to calm markets. Brent crude fell 0.4 per cent on Monday to $125.3 following an increase of more than 2 per cent on Friday. That climb down is good news for oil importers such as India and Turkey which will suffer as oil prices climb. The Indian rupee is now down 3.4 per cent against the dollar since the start of February. It fell a further 0.2 per cent to Rs50.2350 on Monday, while the Turkish lira lost 0.5 per cent to TL1.8070. Elsewhere the Sri Lankan rupee fell to a record low of Rs125.80 against the dollar after losing 4 per cent on Monday morning. The Sri Lankan currency has fallen more than 10 per cent since its central bank stopped defending a specific price for the currency in early February.