BW:Pound Climbs Versus Dollar as Equities Rise on Greece
(Corrects to show pound weakened against euro in second, fourth paragraphs, currency conversion in second paragraph.)
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- The pound rose against the dollar and the yen as stocks advanced after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled his support for Greek government bond rollovers.
The U.K. currency was weaker versus the euro for a sixth straight day. Data showed U.K. home prices rose 0.1 percent in May, following a 1.4 percent decline the previous month. Ten- year gilts fell before the U.K. Debt Management Office auctions 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of inflation-linked bonds due in March 2040 today. The FTSE 100 Index of shares rose 0.5 percent and futures on the S&P 500 increased 0.6 percent.
“Futures are up a bit so the market is taking its cue from that,” said Steve Barrow, head of research for Group-of-10 currencies at Standard Bank Plc in London. “Sterling is looking a little bit firmer but that data is still looking iffy.”
The pound advanced 0.6 percent to $1.6450 as of 10:08 a.m. in London. It climbed 0.7 percent to 131.937 yen, and slipped 0.1 percent to 89.22 pence per euro.
The 10-year gilt yield increased three basis points to 3.30 percent.
--Editors: Matthew Brown, Keith Campbell
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net
