London — Sterling tumbled as much as 2.5% on Friday, while the FTSE share index opened about 1% higher, after British voters denied any party a majority of seats in parliament, plunging the country into political chaos days before the start of Brexit talks. With no clear winner emerging from Thursday’s election, Prime Minister Theresa May was fighting to hold on to her job on Friday, having failed to win the stronger mandate she had sought to conduct exit talks with the rest of the European Union and instead weakening her party’s grip on power. The surprise of a result that raised questions about how Britain will advance with its plan to leave the EU, and whether any party can form a stable government, sent the pound to eight-week lows against the dollar and its lowest levels in seven months versus the euro. After falling sharply on an exit poll released when polls closed at 9pm GMT, which indicated Britain was set for a hung parliament, the pound had steadied a little in Asian trad...
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