GBP rose against most other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday supported by the reports that the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is fighting coronavirus in hospital in intensive care, is "in a stable condition". However, the pound traded little changed against the U.S. dollar, which saw increased demand as markets' optimism that the COVID-19 crisis was slowing abated.

"I understand the Prime Minister is in a stable condition," the junior health minister Edward Argar told Sky News this morning. "He's comfortable and in good spirits. He has - in the past - had some oxygen but he's not on ventilation." Later, the PM's spokesman said that Johnson remained in intensive care but was stable and responding to virus treatment.

On the contrary, the UK's data on job vacancies were the drag on GBP. The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG's report revealed that permanent staff vacancies fell at the steepest rate since 2009 in March as firms canceled or postponed plans to take on new staff. Temp billings were also hit. Great uncertainty over the outlook underpinned the first reduction in overall vacancies for over a decade, the report noted.