By Keith Jenkins
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The pound was little changed against the dollar, paring a decline, after Abu Dhabi bailed out Dubai World, sending stocks higher as investor concern eased about loans made by British banks to the Gulf emirate.
Sterling rose earlier versus the U.S. currency. Dubai will use part of the money to meet its obligations, including $4.1 billion needed to repay an Islamic bond maturing today for the real-estate unit Nakheel PJSC. The FTSE 350 Banks Index advanced 2.8 percent.
“The news out of Dubai has taken some of the negativity about sterling that we were seeing last week off the agenda,” said Jeremy Stretch, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “There had been concerns about the U.K. banking sector and potential losses in the region.”
The pound was little changed at $1.6241 of 8:43 a.m. in London, from $1.6262 at the end of last week. It dropped earlier to $1.6190. Sterling weakened to 90.22 pence per euro, from 89.87 pence.
Average house asking prices will stagnate next year after rising about 2 percent in 2009, Rightmove Plc, the operator of the U.K.’s biggest property Web site, said in a statement today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Jenkins in London at Kjenkins3@bloomberg.net
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