Sterling slips on poor housing data

28th October 2010
Good morning. Yesterday Sterling fell vs a stronger US Dollar, but held steady against the Euro. This morning however, the pound has fallen after very poor house price data. This morning at 08:30am rates are as follows:


Pound slips on House Price data

House prices dropped in October compared with the previous month as the property market saw an autumn fall, according to the Nationwide. The building society said that prices were down 0.7% compared with September, with the average home now costing £164,381. The figure was expected at -0.3% and so the worse figures pushed the pound lower.

As we said earlier in the week, as Sterling is very volatile at the moment any data, positive or negative, is having a significant effect on exchange rates.

GDP data earlier in the week was above forecast and the pound rose. Today house price data is below forecast, and the pound fell. This illustrates how important it is to be aware of data releases as it's this fundamental data that's driving exchange rates at the moment.

Today's Data

A host of data from Europe is released today, starting with German Unemployment. As the largest economy in the EU, markets pay close attention to German figures. EU wide, we have economic and industrial confidence measures. These indicate the trend of the overall Euro Zone economy and so can affect GBP/EUR rates. From the UK, we have Consumer Confidence. Following last weeks poor retail sales, a low confidence reading may push Sterling lower.

If you are looking for the best exchange rates, click the link below to send us an enquiry, and have a free consultation on what's happening in the currency markets. Our commercial rates are up to 6% better than banks offer, and so we can help you save a considerable sum on any foreign exchange requirements.



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