Hedge funds more than doubled their bets against the British pound in the week before the UK general election as some pollsters predicted the Conservative party would fall short of an overall majority.

Data from the US' Commodity Futures Trading Commission, released on Friday, showed "leveraged funds" - a term the CFTC uses to describe the usually global-macro oriented hedge funds that trade in commodity and currency markets - more than doubled short positions in sterling during the week to June 6, just before the election on June 8.