The British currency lost against most of the 6 main traded currencies as a government institution affirmed that the crisis in the real estate market will persist until 2012, shunning investors from pound-prices assets, and stopping last weeks rally versus the greenback and the yen.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research affirmed today that the house prices slump in the United Kingdom will last until at least 2012, reflecting directly in Great Britain stock markets and the pound. Apart from the house-prices pessimistic overview, the very same instituted also stated that the national gross domestic product will be on the negative until the end of the year, and did not forecast a significant rebound for 2010. The British currency lost today versus the yen and the dollar today as the world financial scenario tends to deteriorate on concerns that the CIT Group Inc. may file for bankruptcy, attracting investors to refuge currencies like the Japanese one.
The prolonged negative situation in the British housing market is holding back investors confidence to allow the pound to gain in the foreign-exchange market. By the end of week, further events may add to the negative outlook, as the quarterly GDP is due to be published on Friday.
GBP/USD traded at 1.6367 as of 11:10 GMT from a previous rate of 1.6505. GBP/JPY traded at 153.04 from 156.15.
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