Investing.com - Mortgage approvals in the U.K. declined to the lowest level in 20 months in December, dampening optimism over the health of the housing sector, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the British Banker's Association said that the number of new mortgages approved decreased to 35,700 last month from November’s total of 36,700.
Analysts had expected the number of new mortgages approved to decline to 36,600 in December.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5072 from around 1.5090 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7503 from 0.7494 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained lower. London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 dipped 0.65%, France's CAC 40 declined 0.5%, while Germany's DAX slumped 0.45%.