Pound tumbles to lowest since April '06 vs dollar

LONDON (Reuters) - The pound fell further versus the dollar on Monday, hitting its lowest since April 2006 as poor UK mortgage data added to a troubled economic picture, highlighted by comments over the weekend from Chancellor Alistair Darling.

Data from the Bank of England showed that mortgage approvals had fallen to a series low in July, while the manufacturing sector stayed firmly in contraction territory.

That comes after Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said at the weekend that the country was facing its most challenging time in 60 years.

By 9:52 a.m., sterling had fallen more than 1 percent on the day to $1.8005. Traders said the only thing holding the pound back from falling quickly under $1.80 were option barriers at that level.

"The sterling-selling move is just carrying on, there's just no reason to stop selling at this point," said a trader in London.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Veronica Brown)