BLBG:Pound Little Changed Versus Dollar Before U.K. Finances Report
The pound was little changed against the dollar and euro before a report economists said will show Britain’s budget deficit narrowed in May from a year earlier.
The budget shortfall excluding temporary support for banks fell to 12.6 billion pounds ($19.5 billion) from 15.8 billion pounds a year ago, according to the median forecast of 23 analysts in a Bloomberg news survey. The U.K. Debt Management Office is scheduled to sell 2 billion pounds of bills today.
The pound traded at $1.5515 at 7:29 a.m. London time after slipping to $1.5415 yesterday, the lowest since June 6. Sterling was at 85.34 pence per euro after reaching 85.91 yesterday, the weakest since May 30.
The pound has strengthened 4.2 percent in the past three months, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, which track 10 developed-market currencies. The euro gained 4.6 percent, the best performer, and the dollar rose 1.6 percent.
U.K. gilts have handed investors a loss of 2.9 percent this year through yesterday, according to Bloomberg World Bond Indexes. German bonds dropped 1.6 percent and Treasuries declined 2.2 percent, the indexes show.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net
