The pound appreciated against the euro as an industry report showed U.K. home sellers raised asking prices in April for a fourth consecutive month amid a shortage of properties for sale. Sterling dropped for a second day versus the dollar. Prices sought rose 2.1 percent from March to an average 244,706 pounds ($375,000), property-website operator Rightmove Plc said today. The U.K. Debt Management Office is scheduled to sell 2.25 billion pounds of gilts due in 2044 on April 18, while a report on April 16 will show the annual inflation rate held at 2.8 percent in March, according to the median estimate of 36 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. The pound strengthened 0.2 percent to 85.31 pence per euro at 7:31 a.m. London time. Sterling fell 0.1 percent to $1.5322. The pound declined 4.4 percent this year, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes that track 10 developed- nation currencies. The dollar gained 2.1 percent and the euro strengthened 1.1 percent. Gilts returned 1.2 percent this year through April 12 according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German bonds gained 0.7 percent and Treasuries rose 0.6 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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