Pound declines on consumer confidence, home values

Pound declines on consumer confidence, home values

Story link: Pound declines on consumer confidence, home values

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The pound was lower versus most major currencies on Friday on falling confidence among UK consumers and on slow growth in the value of a home there.

The British currency was also hurt by expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates when it’s Monetary Policy Committee meets in April.

Growth of the gross domestic product was at 2.8 percent from a year earlier in the final quarter of last year, less than had been expected, according to the Office of National Statistics, another factor in the pound’s decline.

Home values were up 1.1 percent in March from the same time last year, the slowest rate of growth in 12 years, after having grown by 2.7 percent in February, while home prices were down by 0.6 percent in March, all according to data from the Nationwide Building Society.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment was at its lowest level since early 1993, according to market researcher GfK NOP, with the overall index down two points to minus 19 and general sentiment for the next 12 months down from minus 29 last month to minus 32 this month.

The pound was trading at 79.14p to the euro in late morning trade in New York, while it was at $1.9930 to the US dollar and at ¥198.5076 to the yen.

The US dollar was up on the day versus the euro after earlier declines on the possibility that Eurozone interest rates will go up soon, trading at $1.5772 to the euro shortly before noon in New York, but the US currency remained around 2.1 percent lower on the week in relation to the shared currency.