LONDON (Reuters) - The pound touched an all-time low against the euro on Wednesday as soft data reinforced the case for Bank of England rate cuts.
British consumer confidence fell to its worst since comparable records began four years ago, according to a survey from Nationwide.
Sentiment at British services firms reached its lowest point in 15 months, and permanent job appointments in Britain fell for the first time in nearly five years last month, other data showed.
This has bolstered expectations that the Bank of England is set to cut rates while bets that the ECB is to cut rates have been pared back.
"Yet again the data is an indication that the UK economy is slowing, that puts further pressure on the MPC," said Jeremy Stretch, strategist at Rabobank. "It’s a case that sterling continues to be seen as the ugly sister to the dollar."
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
By 7:55 a.m. the euro had reached as high as 76.87 pence, its highest since the currency was launched in 1999.
(Reporting by Veronica Brown and Simon Falush)
