Investing.com - The pound came off lows against the dollar on Tuesday after a report showed that mortgage approvals in the U.K. rose to the highest level since February 2008 in September, adding to signs of a recovery in the housing market.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.6063, the lowest since October 17, to hit 1.6092 during European morning trade, still down 0.31% for the day.
Cable was likely to find near-term support at 1.6050 and resistance at 1.6207, Mondays high.
The Bank of England said mortgage approvals rose to 66,735 in September, from an upwardly revised 63,396 in August. Analysts had forecast a reading of 66,000.
The BoE said net mortgage lending ticked down to GBP1 billion pounds in September, from an upwardly revised GBP1.1 billion in August. Meanwhile, net lending to individuals decreased to GBP1.4 billion in September from an upwardly revised GBP1.7 billion in August.
Analysts had forecast increases of GBP1.2 billion and GBP2.5 billion respectively.
The dollar remained under pressure as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed was not expected to announce any change to the rate of its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program after its meeting on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank was instead expected to delay plans to start tapering stimulus until well into next year.
The dollar found some support after data released on Monday showed that U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% in September, coming in above expectations for a 0.4% rise.
However, a separate report showed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% in September, down for the fourth consecutive month.
Elsewhere, sterling was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.15% to 0.8552.
Investors were looking ahead to U.S. data on retail sales, producer price inflation and consumer confidence later in the trading day.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.6063, the lowest since October 17, to hit 1.6092 during European morning trade, still down 0.31% for the day.
Cable was likely to find near-term support at 1.6050 and resistance at 1.6207, Mondays high.
The Bank of England said mortgage approvals rose to 66,735 in September, from an upwardly revised 63,396 in August. Analysts had forecast a reading of 66,000.
The BoE said net mortgage lending ticked down to GBP1 billion pounds in September, from an upwardly revised GBP1.1 billion in August. Meanwhile, net lending to individuals decreased to GBP1.4 billion in September from an upwardly revised GBP1.7 billion in August.
Analysts had forecast increases of GBP1.2 billion and GBP2.5 billion respectively.
The dollar remained under pressure as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed was not expected to announce any change to the rate of its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program after its meeting on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank was instead expected to delay plans to start tapering stimulus until well into next year.
The dollar found some support after data released on Monday showed that U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% in September, coming in above expectations for a 0.4% rise.
However, a separate report showed that U.S. pending home sales fell 5.6% in September, down for the fourth consecutive month.
Elsewhere, sterling was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.15% to 0.8552.
Investors were looking ahead to U.S. data on retail sales, producer price inflation and consumer confidence later in the trading day.