Forex: GBP/USD – Sterling holding near 1-month high

iNVEZZ.com, Tuesday, July 23th: The pound rose to nearly a one-month high at 1.5384 yesterday after the US housing update underlined the need for continuing Federal Reserve support even if the central bank should start reducing its economic stimulus.

In today’s Asian session the pair stayed around these high levels, trading at 1.5381 at the opening in London.
The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that existing home sales in June had fallen to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million units. Analysts had been expecting 5.25 million transactions. The actual number represented a drop of 1.2 percent on the May total.

The NAR noted that average house prices had nevertheless jumped by 13.5 percent year-over-year, indicating continuing recovery in the housing sector.
Further in the US, the weekly Redbook Index, which tracks sales growth in a sample of large US general merchandise retailers, will be released at 14:00 BST today.
At the same time the Office of Federal Reserve Housing Enterprise Oversight is due to publish the US Housing Price Index for May.
The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index for July will follow at 15:00 BST.
In the UK, the British Bankers’ Association has just released June mortgage approvals. The reading came out as 37,300, comfortably up on the 36,102 approvals in May but missing expectations for 38,500.