Singapore — The pound slipped on Tuesday after Britain’s parliament paved the way for Prime Minister Theresa May to launch divorce talks with the EU, while stocks advanced ahead of an expected US interest rate increase later in the week. The pound retreated almost 0.1% to $1.2208 after both houses backed the so-called Brexit bill, opening the door for May to start the clock on the required two-year negotiation period by the end of this month. The euro hovered at $1.0656, failing to recover any of Monday’s 0.2% loss. On Monday, sterling had jumped 0.36% after Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon demanded a new independent referendum in late 2018 or early 2019, once the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU were clearer. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei inched down 0.1%. Chinese shares saw early gains rolled back after combined retail sales for January and February rose only 9.5% from a year earlier, missing the expecta...
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