* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote http://tmsnrt.rs/2hwV9Hv
(Updates with sterling move, analyst quote, Brexit party news)
By Elizabeth Howcroft and Yoruk Bahceli
LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Sterling rose to a 10-day high
against the U.S. dollar on Friday as Brexit Party candidates
stood down from over 40 seats not held by the Conservative
Party, which traders saw as a move that would help the
Conservatives gain a majority in the upcoming UK elections.
The pound has been rising in the past week as polls
suggested Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative party
could win a majority at the Dec. 12 election, which is seen as
increasing the chances of the UK leaving the European Union with
a deal on Jan. 31.
The Brexit party has stood down from 43 non-Conservative
seats, 11 of which are held by the main opposition Labour Party
and 17 of which saw the Conservative Party finish in second
place in the 2017, according to a Telegraph reporter.
Sterling rose 0.2% to $1.2919 and was on track for
gains of around 1% since last Friday.
"It's a combination of dollar weakness and the political
backdrop playing out," said CIBC Capital Markets head of G10 FX
strategy Jeremy Stretch.
A poll conducted after the Brexit Party said it would not
stand in Conservative-held seats earlier this week put the
Conservatives at 43%, up 3 points from a poll last week. Labour
was unchanged at 30%.
Versus the euro, the pound was little changed at 85.59
pence. It had reaching six-month highs in late London trading on
Thursday after two Brexit Party leaders announced
they were not going to run.
Johnson repeated his intention to "get Brexit done" on
Friday, saying the UK needs to come out of regulatory alignment
with the EU and that it has "bags of time" to negotiate a free-
trade deal.
Meanwhile, Labour said it would nationalise parts of
telecoms provider BT's network if it won power in the Dec. 12
election to provide free full-fibre broadband for all. BT
shares fell to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index.
"At present, sterling benefits from anything that lowers
Labour's chances of winning the election," Commerzbank's head of
FX and commodity research, Ulrich Leuchtmann, wrote in a client
note.
But election news may be distracting from broader market
pessimism about sterling's long-term outlook. The UK will have
just 11 months to negotiate a trade deal with the EU next year
before a transition period comes to an end.
Data this week has also been weak, with UK retail sales
falling unexpectedly in October.
"My concern is - and this is something possibly the market
has thought about - that we've got preoccupied with the election
but there is still a lot of uncertainty post-election," said
Neil Mellor, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft and Yoruk Bahceli, additional
reporting by Dhara Rhanasinghe; editing by Hugh Lawson, Larry
King)
BT (BT.A)
