Forexpros – The pound was lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, tracking the euro’s losses after Standard & Poor’s threatened to downgrade 15 euro zone countries if no progress was made on the region’s debt crisis.
GBP/USD hit 1.5592 during European morning trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5631, falling 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.5525, the low of November 30 and resistance at 1.5691, the high of November 22.
S&P said it may carry out a mass credit downgrade of euro zone countries if their leaders fail to move decisively on solving the region’s debt woes at Friday’s key economic summit.
In a response to the ratings agency, Germany and France said their governments were “united in their resolve to take all necessary measures together with their European partners and the European institutions to safeguard the stability of the euro zone.”
The warning came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a common platform that aims to halt the region’s debt crisis. The plan calls for automatic penalties for deficit violators and locking limits on debt into euro zone states’ constitutions.
Elsewhere, the pound was up against the euro with EUR/GBP shedding 0.08%, to trade at 0.8557.
Earlier Tuesday, data showed that house prices in the U.K. declined more-than-expected in November.
The Halifax Bank of Scotland said its house price index fell by 0.9% in November, after a 1.2% rise the previous month, continuing the very mixed monthly pattern seen this year.
Analysts had expected the index to decline 0.1% in November.
Forexpros
