By Tom Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) – Sterling on Thursday stabilised against the dollar and euro, staunching some of its losses after a bruising bout of profit-taking a day earlier.

The pound slumped 0.6% to a one-week low against the dollar and around 1% against the euro on Wednesday as investors took cash off the table after a strong first quarter for the British currency.

But by 0847 GMT on Thursday, sterling was flat against the dollar at $1.3725, according to Yahoo! Finance, having touched its lowest this month a day earlier.

Against the euro, it traded down slightly at 86.42 pence per euro, according to Yahoo! Finance, after its worst day against the single currency in five weeks.

ING analysts wrote that sterling’s pullback was “exaggerated,” adding that they “remain constructive on the currency”, citing Britain’s relatively fast coronavirus vaccine programme.

Expectations of an economic rebound in Britain, spurred by rapid COVID-19 vaccinations, helped sterling to record its best quarter since 2015 versus the euro.

Diminishing expectations that the Bank of England will push interest rates to negative territory have also helped.

Britain has surged ahead of the rest of Europe in the race to inoculate its population, with almost half of its citizens receiving a first dose. But supply issues from its main Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have slowed progress in recent days.

(Reporting by Tom Wilson; Editing by Mark Heinrich)