The pound edged higher for a second consecutive day today as British Prime Minister Theresa May travels to Berlin and Paris to argue for a Brexit delay.

However today's gains were tiny ahead of an emergency European Union summit tomorrow. 

Sterling rose 0.1% to $1.3074 in quiet trading and is still more than 2% below a nine-month high of nearly $1.34 hit last month. 

Against the euro, the pound was broadly steady at 86.23 pence. 

"The pound has seen support from reports of May considering allowing a second referendum, but progress may be needed on the cross-party talks for the pound to break higher," Morgan Stanley strategists said in a note. 

While May travels to Berlin and Paris ahead of tomorrow's summit in Brussels, British politicians will hold a 90-minute debate on her proposal to delay Britain's EU departure date to June 30 from April 12. 

The debate has been forced on the government by parliament passing a law yesterday which will give lawmakers the power to scrutinise and even make legally binding changes to May's request to extend the Article 50 negotiating period again. 

Currency derivative markets painted a cautious outlook with implied volatility gauges for the pound remaining elevated compared to other currencies such as the euro and the yen.