Growth prediction hurts pound

The pound weakened versus the US dollar and the yen Monday after the Confederation of British Industry said that the UK economy will likely not return to growth until next year.

At just before 10:30 a.m. in New York, the pound was up at 84.66p to the shared currency, but the US dollar had gained on the pound to $1.6351 while at the same time the Japanese yen traded at ¥160.0883 to the pound.

The greenback, meanwhile, was stronger versus the euro and the Swiss franc after Russia’s finance minister expressed confidence in the US currency.

Still, the dollar declined in relation to the yen after the New York Federal Reserve’s general economic index, which indicates factory activity, fell to minus 9.41 in June from minus 4.55 in May as manufacturing activity contracted and on new numbers showing that foreign investors bought more long-term US assets than they sold in April.

The greenback traded at $1.3843 to the euro in morning trade in New York while the Swiss franc dropped to SFr1.0905 to the US dollar.

The yen gained versus both the dollar and the euro, to ¥97.91 and ¥135.5343 to the shared currency.

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