LONDON, Jan 5 - The British pound climbed to $1.80 for the first time since September 1992 on Monday as renewed pressure on the dollar lifted sterling to levels last seen in the month of Britain's "Black Wednesday" currency crisis. The dollar, which fell around 10 percent against sterling last year, extended losses after Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke said at the weekend there was little reason to raise U.S. interest rates from a 45-year low. Ultra-low U.S. interest rates have dented the appeal of dollar deposits, encouraging capital to flow out of the United States.
Sterling rose to $1.8000 in the European midsession, but remained in a familiar range against the euro . "This is yet again a dollar story, because the euro/sterling rate hasn't moved much," said Bilal Hafeez, senior currency strategist at Deutsche Bank. "The dollar's downtrend seems very strong." Britain pulled sterling out of Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism in September 1992 after losing a hard-fought battle with speculators. The pound lost a quarter of its value against the dollar in the months that followed.//