The pound strengthened against the euro and pared its first decline against the dollar in three days after a report showed a measure of U.K. services industry growth exceeded economists’ forecasts in June. The pound gained 0.3 percent to 90.14 pence per euro as of 9:36 a.m. in London, from a close of 90.39 pence yesterday. Sterling was little changed at $1.6064 after losing as much as 0.6 percent to as little as $1.5991 earlier today. A gauge of U.K. services growth based on a survey of companies rose to 53.9 from 53.8 in May, Markit Economics Ltd. and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said today in a report in London. Economists had forecast that the index would slip to 53.5, according to the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. A measure above 50 indicates expansion. To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in London at gtheunissen@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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