Pound falls on weaker consumer confidence

The pound was weaker in relation to the greenback Friday as consumer confidence declined in the UK and it became more likely that the Bank of England will cut interest rates to 4 percent when it meets in November.

The pound was also affected by new data released Thursday by the Nationwide Building Society that house prices have fallen more from a year ago than in any similar period since 1991.

At around 10:30 a.m. in New York the pound traded at 79.13 to the euro while it took $1.6063 to buy a pound.

The euro also dropped in value against the greenback as inflation in the Eurozone dropped to 3.2 percent in October, from 3.6 percent in September, increasing the possibility that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next month, probably lowering the rate to 3.25 percent.

In mid-morning trade in New York it took $1.2710 to buy a euro.

The yen strengthened versus the US dollar and the euro after the Bank of Japan cut interest rates by 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent Friday on a mixed vote in which half of those voting were in favor of the cut, three others wanted a larger cut and one voted for no cut at all.

By mid-morning in New York, however, the yen lost part of those gains to trade at ¥125.3714 to the euro and at ¥98.64 to the US dollar, while the Japanese currency was at ¥64.8311 to the Australian dollar and at ¥58.1 to the New Zealand dollar.

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