House price drop, higher inflation hurt pound

The pound weakened Tuesday after consumer inflation was reported up at an annualized rate of 3 percent in April and after the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that its new survey showed 82 percent of surveyors reported that house prices declined in the three months ending in April.

It took $1.9461 to buy a pound in late morning trade in New York, while at the same time the pound traded at 79.52p to the euro.

The US dollar was stronger versus the euro and the yen on Tuesday on new retail sales data that showed that retail sales excluding automobiles were up 0.5 percent in April.

At around 11:15 a.m. in New York, the dollar had given back some of the gains versus the euro to trade at $1.5475 to the shared currency while it took ¥104.4750 to buy a dollar.

The dollar also made gains in relation to the Australian dollar and the Swiss franc, with the dollar trading at 94.12 cents US to the Aussie while the franc traded at SFr1.0514 to the dollar.

The yen weakened again versus several higher-yielding currencies as investors continued to return to risky carry trades.

In late morning trade in New York, the yen traded at ¥13.790 to the South African rand while it was at ¥9.9661 to the Mexican peso and at ¥62.829 to the Brazilian real.

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