EU focus: U.K. Pound falls as confidence declines

The pound slid to the least in more than 15 months against the euro as reports showed U.K. consumer confidence fell this month. Moreover, the house prices were little changed, limiting the scope for interest-rate increases.
The average cost of a home was 168,205 pounds ($270,255), compared with 167,208 pounds in May, when it rose 0.3%.
Consumer confidence fell to minus 25 from minus 21 last month, GfK NOP said in a separate report, below the minus 24 median estimate.
The pound has fallen 9% in the past 12 months.

Bank of England policy maker Adam Posen on June 27 dismissed a call by the Bank for International Settlements for tighter monetary policy worldwide to curb inflation as “nonsense”.
The Bank of England will probably leave the benchmark interest rate on hold at a record low of 0.5% until after Governor Mervyn King retires in 2013, Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered Plc, said yesterday.
Worsening economic data has prompted investors to push back bets on when the central bank will begin raising borrowing costs to May 2012.
Also pound fell after BOE'Fisher said that UK financial markets faced to significant risks. Also he noted in case of stress-tests the markets may be surprised by results.