Sterling sank below $1.45 against the dollar this morning after the UK’s bleak economic landscape was blackened further with data showing house prices had another sharp fall in November.
The pound fell as low as $1.4467, its weakest level in six and a half years. This came after Halifax, Britain’s largest mortgage lender reported house prices fell 2.6 per cent month-on-month in November, taking the annual rate of decline to 16.1 per cent – the sharpest drop since the lender began to compile the data in 1983.
Against the euro, sterling was down 0.9 per cent to £0.8675, a new record low, and lost 2 per cent to Y135.06 against the yen. On a trade weighted basis, sterling fell 0.7 per cent to 80.4, close to its record low of 80.2.
The news comes just hours ahead of the Bank of England’s midday call on UK interest rates. The Bank’s monetary policy committee is widely expected to make another aggressive cut, but the pound’s reaction suggested there was now speculation that it may come close to matching last month’s 150 basis-point cut.
Financial Times
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