In early Asian deals on Monday, the pound advanced against its major counterparts as the property Web site Rightmove said today that U.K.’s house prices increased in January. The pound jumped to a fresh 4-month high against the euro and a 2-week high against the Swiss franc.
The average asking price for a home in the United Kingdom was up 0.4 percent in January compared to the previous month, property Web site Rightmove said, following a 2.2 percent monthly decline in December.
On an annual basis, home prices were up 4.1 percent after adding 1.7 percent in the previous month.
The pound that closed last week’s trading at 0.8846 against the euro strengthened to a new 4-month high of 0.8806 in early Asian deals on Monday. The next upside target level for the UK currency is seen at 0.870.
The European currency fell before finance ministers from the 16 nations that use the euro meet today to discuss Greece’s public finances.
Greek debt slumped after the European Commission said last week there were “severe irregularities” in data the country used to calculate its deficit.
Greece presented the European Commission last week with a three-year budget plan that includes more than 10 billion euro ($14.4 billion) in deficit-reduction measures for this year to bring down Europe’s biggest budget shortfall.
During early Asian deals on Monday, the pound climbed to a 2-week high of 1.6786 against the Swiss franc. On the upside, 1.703 is seen as the next target level for the pound. At Friday’s close, the pound-franc pair was quoted at 1.6701.
The pound rose against the currencies of US and Japan in early Asian deals on Monday. As of now, the pound is worth 148.32 against the yen and 1.6314 against the dollar, up from Friday’s close of 147.74 and 1.6273, respectively. If the pound advances further, it may target 150.0 against the yen and 1.636 against the dollar.
Looking ahead, Japan is scheduled to release final November numbers for industrial production and capacity utilization reports at 11:30 pm ET.
In the European session, the Italian trade balance for November is due at 4:00 am ET.
The U.S. financial markets are closed on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. day.