Pound weakens against euro, USD

The pound lost ground to the euro and the US currency Tuesday after a report said that the construction sector had contracted again.

It was also hurt by expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates to 1 percent later this week, by anticipation that new reports will show that both house prices and consumer confidence are down again in the UK.

At late morning in New York the pound traded at 90.36p to the euro while it cost $1.4358 to buy a pound.

The US dollar and the Japanese yen both declined Tuesday on new efforts by governments to help ailing economies while the Australian dollar saw gains on its government’s announcement that it will spend A$42 billion on grants to families and those who earn low incomes and on improvements to the nation’s insfrastructure.

Meanwhile, the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan announced that it will buy ¥1 trillion worth of shares owned by financial institutions.

In late morning trade in New York the yen traded at 89.195 to the US dollar while it stood at ¥115.7174 to the euro and was down to ¥57.4821 to the Australian dollar.

At the same time, the greenback traded lower at $1.2974 to the euro and had fallen to 64.45 cents US to the Aussie.

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