* UK consumer confidence, housing data lifts stg vs euro * Buoyant dollar pushes cable back below $1.65 * Pound on track for biggest weekly gain vs euro in 9 months * Attention turns to BoE's decision on QE next week By Jamie McGeever LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Sterling rose against the euro on Friday on the back of perky UK consumer confidence and housing data, but fell by a bigger margin against the dollar as declines in global stocks boosted the U.S. currency across the board. This meant sterling was firmly on track for its biggest weekly rise against the euro in nine months, extending this week's rebound as traders put the surprise fall in third-quarter UK output announced last week to the back of their minds. But losses of 1 percent or more on major U.S. and European stock markets triggered selling in "high beta" currencies closely linked to stronger growth and asset markets, such as sterling, in favour of the dollar. At the end of a week of generally mixed UK economic reports, the Nationwide Building Society on Friday said that British house prices rose for a sixth month running in October to register their first annual gain since early 2008. And consumer confidence rose in October to its highest since January 2008, after improvements in households' financial situation and view of the past 12 months, a monthly survey by GfK NOP showed. [ECONGB] Attention is now squarely on the Bank of England's policy meeting next Thursday, where it is expected to keep interest rates on hold at record lows of 0.5 percent but increase its quantitative easing by 25 billion pounds to 200 billion pounds. "Sterling has been the best performer of the week in the G10 space ... but you can't really attribute it to the economic data because it's been slightly mixed this week. The big thing driving it has been underlying order flow," said Naeem Wahid, currency strategist at Bank of Scotland Treasury Services. "The biggest risk for sterling now is around the BoE. Further QE, which is looking more likely, would trigger further sterling weakness," he said. At 1545 GMT sterling GBP=D4 was down 0.6 percent against the dollar at $1.6460. On Thursday it rose above $1.66, its strongest in nearly a week and almost 4 cents up from Monday's trough of $1.6251. The euro EURGBP=D4 was down 0.2 percent on the day at 89.37 pence, nearing the previous day's low of 89.12 pence, its weakest since mid-September. The euro is down 2.8 percent against the pound this week, its biggest decline in nine months. On Friday, it broke below the 55-day moving average technical support at 89.70 pence, Reuters charts showed. Sterling's trade-weighted index was fixed at 80.90 <=GBP=>, within sight of Thursday's six-week high of 81.2. MPC NEXT WEEK Attention now turns to the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee meeting next Thursday, and specifically whether the MPC will expand its quantitative easing programme. Given the surprise third-quarter UK GDP contraction, speculation has grown the BoE may expand its 175 billion pound asset-buying programme. Quantitative easing, under which the central bank floods the market with cash, has stung sterling in past months. Median forecasts from a Reuters poll of over 60 analysts, taken Oct 26-28, found roughly two-thirds saying the MPC would announce an increase to its QE spending at the end of its meeting next Thursday, likely by 25 billion pounds. The last Reuters poll predicted they would stop at 175 billion. "Our guess -- because this is quite uncertain -- is that ... the MPC (will) make a further modest extension of QE of 25 billion pounds over the next three months," Citigroup economist Michael Saunders wrote in a note on Friday. "In this case, the MPC might well seek and obtain authority from the Chancellor to extend QE even further, perhaps by 50 billion pounds, in order to further reduce risks that gilt yields rise sharply," he said.

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