The pound weakened against the dollar and the euro after a manufacturing index fell to a 20-month low and U.K. mortgage approvals dropped in April to the lowest in four months. The British currency slid 0.2 percent to $1.6415 as of 9:37 a.m. in London, after earlier advancing as much as 0.3 percent. It depreciated 0.4 percent to 87.90 pence per euro. The manufacturing gauge, based on a survey by Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, declined to 52.1 from a downwardly revised 54.4 in April, according to a report published in London today. The median forecast of 26 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a drop to 54.1. Lenders granted 45,166 loans to buy homes in April, compared with a revised 47,145 the previous month, the Bank of England said today in London. The April figure is the lowest since December. To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brown at mbrown42@bloomberg.net

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