The Great Britain pound declined today, dragged down by poor performance of the housing market and Brexit worries. The currency fell versus all of its most-traded rivals, including the Japanese yen, which itself was soft.
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors released its UK Residential Market Survey for January, showing that the house price balance worsened to -22% last month from -19% the month before. Market analysts had expected a somewhat better reading of -20%. The report stated that the resolution of the Brexit situation is an important factor for recovery of the housing market:
Resolution of the Brexit negotiations is widely seen as critical to encouraging potential buyers back into the market, although whether that will be sufficient in London and parts of the South East where affordability remains stretched and the tax changes are most penal remains to be seen.
Talking about the Brexit, today UK Prime Minister Theresa May will try to convince the Parliament to support her Brexit plans that should help in negotiations with the European Union about a trade deal. But the Prime Minister may have a hard time as she faces a revolt from pro-Brexit members of her own Conservative party, who want “no-deal” Brexit to remain an option.
GBP/USD declined from 1.2845 to 1.2820 as of 14:12 GMT today. EUR/GBP jumped from 0.8764 to 0.8812. GBP/JPY dropped from 142.56 to 141.80.
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