Pound weaker after house price report

Story link: Pound weaker after house price report

The pound weakened in relation to the US dollar and the euro on Monday in the wake of a report from online property search company Rightmove (LSE: RMV) that the average price for a home dropped 1.2 percent in May across the UK and was down 1.4 percent in London.

The news made it less likely that the Bank of England will raise interest rates anytime soon.

At just before noon in New York it cost $1.9611 to buy a pound while the UK currency traded at 79p to the euro.

The euro, meanwhile, weakened versus the greenback and the yen on a decline in German business confidence in June and on contraction in the Eurozone’s manufacturing and service sectors, all of which will make it more difficult for the European Central Bank to raise interest rates.

Earlier in the month, statements from the Bank’s president indicated that intentions were to raise rates to keep inflation under control.

Late morning trade in New York found the US dollar trading at $1.5494 in relation to the shared currency while it took ¥167.1493 to buy a euro.

The South African rand was weaker versus all major currencies on geopolitical factors after the withdrawal of the opposition candidate for the presidency in Zimbabwe from a runoff election against Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as investors worried that the political instability surrounding the election will spread across the region.

The rand traded at R8.0615 versus the US dollar while it was at R12.487 to the euro.