Dollar gains as pound tumbles after tense vote on Brexit

The dollar gained on Thursday as the pound fell after a tense vote on Brexit that failed to deliver much clarity on where Britain's relationship with the European Union was headed. The pound had soared nearly 2 percent late on Wednesday after British lawmakers voted against a potentially disorderly "no-deal" departure from the European Union.

The pound fell as much as 0.7 percent early on Thursday to $1.3241, but by 0830 GMT had started to rise again. It moved above $1.33 as traders looked to a parliamentary vote later today that's expected to call for a short delay to Brexit. Analysts cautioned against betting on continued sterling strength. Much uncertainty remains about what form Brexit will take, less than three weeks before Britain's scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29. British lawmakers are widely expected to vote on Thursday to delay that departure.

"The most sensible approach seems to be to hedge sterling's downside risks, which we deem to be larger than the remaining upside potential over the next couple of months," UBS said in a note to clients. The dollar index, a gauge of its strength against six other major currencies, was flat at 96.6554. It shed 0.4 percent overnight, at one point brushing a nine-day trough of 96.385. The Australian dollar was down 0.35 percent at $0.7068 , hit by declines in domestic bond yields and largely lacklustre economic data from China, Australia's major trading partner.