Pound weakens on lower house prices

The pound was weaker Wednesday after UK house prices fell in June and a former Bank of England official said that the real estate market could have a slow recovery.

House prices in the UK dropped by 0.5 percent in June after having risen 2.6 percent in May, according to Halifax, a unit of Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY), and had been expected to rise again at least a bit in June.

In late morning trade in New York, the pound traded at 86.49p to the euro while it took $1.6044 to buy a pound and the yen traded at ¥149.3743 to the UK currency.

In addition, the British Chamber of Commerce yesterday urged the Bank of England to ask the government for permission to expand its program of printing more money, saying that the Bank needs to print at least £200 billion in new money as it cited a belief that economic recovery in the UK is not yet certain.

Meanwhile, the yen strengthened Wednesday as investors sought safe investments on concerns that corporate earnings will be down in the United States and after machinery orders dropped 3 percent in Japan in May from April.

At nearly 11:30 a.m. in New York, the yen traded at ¥129.1869 versus the euro and at ¥93.105 to the US dollar while the dollar traded at $1.3875 to the euro.

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