Sterling was up against its major counterparts in trading on Thursday (July 30th), supported by stronger housing data from Nationwide.The building society issued a statement positing that there is a "reasonable chance" that house prices will close higher than they started in 2009. Its announcement came after in-house data showed a third consecutive month of house prices rises this month. The group reported that prices were up an average 1.3 per cent.Sharecast reported that sterling was supported by a weaker dollar while the Financial Times also pointed to reassurances from Chinese authorities that its loose monetary regulation would not be coming to an end as a major driving force behind the sterling's rise.The Shanghai Composite slumped five per cent earlier in the week after speculation that the Chinese government would look to tighten up lending, prompting concern that economic recovery would be stifled."Soothing comments from the Chinese central bank that it would maintain its loose monetary policy has allayed some fears and seems to have capped further dollar gains,” said Stuart Bennett at Calyon.