* Graphic: Global FX rates in 2020 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic: Sterling with trade pressure from Brexit vote tmsnrt.rs/2hwV9Hv
LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Sterling was trading in areas recently Thursday, above the $ 1.38 mark hit earlier in the week in relatively quiet currency markets due to free- Chinese days and scarce data calendar.
Optimism about the pace of Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination program relative to other European countries and expectations for a weaker dollar this year has raised the pound to near 3-year highs against the dollar and the rate highest since May 2020 against the euro.
A rally above $ 1.38 this week has made sterling the best-performing G10 currency in 2021, up 1.1% against the dollar and nearly 2% against the euro.
A post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union, with the Bank of England saying British banks would need at least six months to prepare for interest rates to go below zero, has also boosted.
Since the bank met last week, markets have been pushing that they expect negative rates out to February 2022.
At the same time speculators increased the long position on the pound last week to last Tuesday, CFTC data show.
On Thursday, sterling traded 0.14% lower to the dollar at $ 1.3815, after hitting a high of $ 1.3865 the previous day.
Against the euro, it was 0.14% lower at 87.73 pence, off the May 2020 high of 87.38 that hit at the end of last week.
“The GBP outlook for the coming weeks is helpful and EUR / GBP is set to test the 87.50 pence rate today,” said Petr Krpata, chief EMEA currency and interest rate strategist at ING.
Investors were watching economic data in Britain.
The housing market showed a sudden uptick in January as Britain backed into coronavirus lockouts and a consumer tax cut was coming to an end, a study showed.
House price growth slowed more than economists expected by Reuters, and prices in London fell for the first time since July, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said.
Some 49% of British exporters have gone through difficulties caused by the move to trade with the EU since 1 January, according to a British Chambers of Commerce survey, while one out of five services exports report problems.
Reciting with Ritvik Carvalho; Edited by Kevin Liffey