Pound down on day, gains over week

The pound was weaker on the day Friday but up on the week overall, seeing a daily decline on worries that the US economy’s weakness will hurt demand for high-yielding currencies and as new data showed that UK housing starts were at their lowest in 4 years in 2007.

It took $1.9619 to buy a pound in New York just before noon while it took 74.85p to purchase a euro.

The US dollar weakened versus the euro, the yen, and the Australian dollar on declines in manufacturing in the New York region and on a drop in consumer confidence.

At around 11:30 a.m. in New York, the dollar traded at $1.4685 to the euro and at ¥107.6600 versus the yen, while it took A$1.0906 to buy a US dollar.

The yen was up after early declines when the Bank of Japan held interest rates at 0.5 percent, with gains coming as US and European equities markets dropped.

In late morning trade in New York, the yen traded at ¥158.0987 to the euro and at ¥211.2181 to the pound.

Story link: Pound down on day, gains over week