Pound hurt by home prices, equities slide

Story link: Pound hurt by home prices, equities slide

The pound was weaker versus the euro and the US dollar Tuesday as equities markets were lower, as home prices in the UK were reported to have fallen yet again, and ahead of a government report expected to show that unemployment grew in February.

The Department for Communities and Local Government reported that house prices in the UK were down 11.5 percent in January from the same month last year, while the Office for National Statistics is expected to say in a report due tomorrow that 84,800 more people received jobless benefits in February.

By just before noon in New York, the pound had taken back some of its losses and traded at 92.54 to the euro while it took $1.4002 to buy a pound.

The Swiss franc saw its first gain in relation to the euro since the Swiss National Bank intervened last week to weaken the currency there as a slide in equities markets sent investors looking for safe places to put their cash.

In late morning trade in New York, the Swiss franc traded at SFr1.5338 to the euro while it was at SFr1.6575 to the pound and at SFr 1.1838 to the greenback.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen was weaker after the Bank of Japan said it could spend up to ¥1 trillion buying subordinated loans from banks, while the euro was helped by unexpected gains in investor confidence after the ZEW survey showed that investor and analyst confidence stood at minus 3.5 in March, it’s best since July 2007, after being at minus 5.8 in February.

The yen traded at ¥98.9 to the US dollar and at ¥128.142 to the euro while the greenback traded at $1.2957 to the shared currency.