BLBG:Pound Weakens Versus Dollar After Home Prices Decline in October
The pound weakened for a second day against the dollar after an industry report showed house prices in England and Wales dropped for a fourth month in October.
Britain’s currency fell from the strongest level in more than three weeks against the euro. Home prices declined 0.1 percent from September and 0.4 percent from a year earlier, Hometrack Ltd, a London-based property research group said in an e-mailed statement. U.K. mortgage approvals rose to 48,700 last month from 47,700 in August, according to the median estimate of 18 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The data will be published at 9:30 a.m. London time.
The pound depreciated 0.2 percent to $1.6075 at 7:46 a.m. London time. It gained 0.6 percent versus the dollar last week. Sterling traded at 80.36 pence per euro after touching 80.02 pence on Oct. 26, the strongest since Oct. 3.
The pound has risen 0.2 percent in the past month according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, which track 10 developed-market currencies. The euro gained 1.3 percent and the dollar climbed 0.8 percent.
Gilts returned 2.4 percent this year through Oct. 26, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German bonds gained 2.8 percent and U.S. Treasuries earned 1.8 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Charlton in London at echarlton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net
