Housing data sends pound to all-time low vs euro

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - The pound slid to an all-time low versus the euro and lost ground to the dollar on Friday as soft house price and consumer confidence data pointed to a British economic slowdown.

British house prices fell for a fifth straight month in March, according to data from the Nationwide Building Society, bringing the annual increase to its lowest in 12 years and showing a key driver of the economy is faltering. Please click on [ID:nL2635039].

A Reuters poll predicting that house prices will fall in 2008 on an annual basis for the first time since the mid-1990s also signalled problems ahead for Britain's economy [GB/HOMES].

Meanwhile British consumer morale fell to its lowest level in more than 15 years in March according to a GfK NOP survey as households grew more gloomy about the economic outlook than at any time since the downturn of the early 1990s [ID:nL27555555].

The accumulation of bad data is cementing expectations that the Bank of England could cut interest rates as soon as next month.

"More people are falling into line and expecting an early cut from the Bank of England," said Chris Turner, head of FX strategy at ING.

"We've not had the aggressive monetary easing that we've seen from the Federal Reserve this year but we might given we're seeing the biggest slowdown in the UK since 1992-93, so the pound is set to fall further."

The Federal Reserve has cut rates by 300 basis points to 2.25 percent since September while the Bank of England has cut rates by just 50 basis points from their peak to 5.25 percent.

By 1449 GMT, the euro had risen as high as 79.29 pence, up more than 0.7 percent on the day and 7.5 percent so far this year EURGBP=.