Forex News: UK Mortgage Approvals Rise to an 11-Month High 

THE TAKEAWAY: UK mortgage approvals reaches 55,785 in December -> Mortgage approvals may signify a success of FLS -> The Pound rises slightly

An 11-month record number of mortgages were taken out by UK home-owners in December, according to the Bank of England. UK mortgage approvals were reported at 55,785 in December, better than an expected 54,500 home loans and higher than November’s 54,000 mortgage approvals.

The net consumer credit also beat expectations at 600 million Pounds in December, up from 100 million in the prior month. The M4 money supply was 0.7% higher in December, up from the 0.2% decline in November.

The rise in mortgage approvals may be a testament to the success of the BoE’s Funding for Lending Scheme. The BoE is trying to push the UK economy into growth following the 0.3% decline in Q4 of 2012, and an additional quarter of decline would mean a technical triple dip recession. Pound investors are now looking for signs of a recovery in the UK economy.

However, the British Pound only saw a small incline against the US Dollar following the mortgage release. GBPUSD is trading around 1.5750 at the time of this release, and support may be provided at a 5-month high recently set at 1.5674.

GBPUSD Daily: January 30, 2013

Chart created by Benjamin Spier using Marketscope 2.0

-- Written by Benjamin Spier, DailyFX Research. Feedback can be sent to bbspier@fxcm.com .