The pound declined for a fourth day against the dollar before a report that economists said will show U.K. services growth slowed in April. Sterling was little changed against the euro after rising to a 22-month high yesterday. A gauge of services activity based on a survey of purchasing managers by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply dropped to 54.1 from 55.3 in March, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. A separate report showed U.K. house prices fell last month. Gilts were little changed before the U.K. sells 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) of inflation-linked securities. The pound slipped 0.1 percent to $1.6183 at 9:12 a.m. London time. The four-day drop is the longest run of declines since November. The British currency rose to $1.6302 on April 30, the highest level since Aug. 31. The pound was at 81.30 pence per euro, after appreciating to 81.13 yesterday, the strongest level since June 2010. Sterling has appreciated 3.2 percent in the past three months, the best performer of the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar gained 0.6 percent and the euro climbed 0.5 percent. The 10-year gilt yield was at 2.05 percent. Gilts have handed investors a loss of 1.2 percent this year, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies, the second-worst performer after Greece among 26 sovereign indexes. U.S. Treasuries gained 0.2 percent and German bunds returned 1.6 percent, the indexes show. To contact the reporter on this story: Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net; Keith Jenkins in London at kjenkins3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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