BLBG:Pound Set for Third Weekly Decline Before U.K. Home Loans Data
The pound was set for a third weekly decline against the dollar before a report from the British Bankers’ Association that economists said will show U.K. mortgage approvals rose in April.
Sterling headed for its biggest weekly drop versus the euro in more than three months. Lenders granted 32,800 approvals in November, up from 33,227 in March, according to the median estimate of six analysts’ forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
The pound was little changed at $1.5096 as of 7:37 a.m. London time after dropping to $1.5014 yesterday, the lowest level since March 14. It has fallen 0.5 percent this week. Sterling was at 85.68 pence per euro after depreciating to 85.90 pence on May 22, the weakest since April 22. The U.K. currency has dropped 1.3 percent since May 17, the biggest weekly slide since Feb. 15.
The pound has slipped 3.1 percent this year, the second-worst performer after the yen among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar gained 5.2 percent and the euro rose 2.9 percent.
Gilts lost 1.8 percent this month through yesterday, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German bonds dropped 1.1 percent and Treasuries fell 1.4 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Neal Armstrong in London at narmstrong8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net