Sterling holds steady after slipping in February

By Harry Robertson

LONDON (Reuters) – The pound held steady on Friday, refusing to be swayed by upbeat data on the housing market, with the focus remaining solely on inflation and Bank of England interest rates.

was last up 0.08% at $1.2634, after falling 0.8% in February. The euro was also little changed against the pound at 85.59 pence.

British house prices rose in annual terms for the first time in more than year in February, according to data from mortgage lender Nationwide released on Friday.

House prices were 1.2% higher than in February last year and rose 0.7% month-on-month.

It was a relatively sleepy day elsewhere in currency markets, with the , a benchmark versus six peers, flat at 104.09.

The pound was on track to fall around 0.3% across the week but on a two-week basis was up 0.3%.

Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank, said some investors may be adding a little to their sterling holdings ahead of next Wednesday’s budget, where finance minister Jeremy Hunt will announce the government’s taxing and spending plans.

“I think the market may be just positioning itself a little bit stronger sterling because we might get some degree of tax cuts which could give a bit of a fiscal bump to the economy,” she said.

“But I think we all understand by now that it’s not going to be huge.”