The struggling pound rose on Wednesday after a brutal sell-off, as British Prime Minister Theresa May's offer to give lawmakers some scrutiny of the process to leave the European Union calmed market fears of a "hard Brexit". Those fears - that Britain will give up full access to the EU's single market in order to impose maximum control on its borders - pushed the currency to 31-year lows last week, including on Friday when it lost 10 percent. May's decision comes ahead of a court ruling on Thursday, which will decide if she can trigger Article 50 - the rule that initiates the process of separating Britain from the European Union - without the consent of parliament. Many lawmakers seem to favour a "soft Brexit" or no Brexit at all and investors fear the "hard" option could hurt trade and foreign investment needed to fund Britain's huge current account deficit, one of the biggest in the developed world. Sterling was up 1 percent at $1.2240, after having tumbled to $1.2086 on Tuesday when it appeared it was heading back towards a 31-year low of $1.1450 hit on Friday. The euro too was down 1 percent at 90.25 pence The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.1 percent to 97.638 after hitting 97.758 on Tuesday, a post-March peak. The euro was trading down at $1.1038, having fallen to $1.1032, its lowest since early August. Against the yen, it was flat at 103.53
