House prices up… but no gains for Pound

Sterling seems to have run its course for the moment – this morning’s Nationwide house price index showed a 1.2% increase in January, much better than expected. Usually the Pound would expect a boost but not so this morning.

Perhaps Tony Blair’s appearance at the Iraq enquiry is causing jitters, or perhaps markets think that sterling has had enough of a run in the last 3 weeks. Either way, the only major data out later today is a raft of numbers from the States at 1.30pm – likely to affect rates for buying US dollars for international transfers.