Sterling plummeted to an 8 and a half month low against the dollar on Friday as qualms over the euro zone’s sovereign debt issues boosted the appeal of the greenback as a safe-haven currency. These anxieties over the debt problems in the Euro Zone have extended beyond Greece to Portugal and Spain, hitting riskier assets.

As a result the pound has been falling in tandem with the euro against the dollar. UK shares fell 1.5 percent on Friday due to concerns over Britain’s own public finances. Uncertainty ahead of the June general election is also weighing on sterling sentiment contributing to eight and half month lows against the US dollar.

Friday’s main event saw the release of the US governments non-farm payrolls report which revealed an unexpected loss of 20,000 jobs in January. This figure contrasted heavily with analysts expectations for a 5,000 rise. Unemployment in the world’s largest economy was revealed to have fallen to 9.7%. Elsewhere gold prices firmed today, in a technical bounce, after hitting a three-month low last week in the wake of the financial instabilities in Europe.

Today sees no local data of note and only low tier data from elsewhere. The Euro Zone sees the release of a Sentix economic survey. Across the pond, US employment trends are up for release in the afternoon session.