The Bank of England (BoE) reported that the number mortgage approvals in the UK fell to 64,684 in June from upwardly revised 65,109 in May. That was the lowest number of new approvals since September 2016. Economists had forecast that mortgage approvals would drop to 65,000.

Meanwhile, consumer credit growth, which has caused concern among the BoE's officials in recent months, slowed slightly. Consumer consumers borrowed GBP 1.458 billion in June in personal loans after borrowing GBP 1.769 billion in May. The monthly increase was only marginally below economists forecast of GBP 1.500 billion.

Lending to individuals grew GBP 5.6 billion in June compared to a revised GBP 5.68 billion in the previous month.