INSTANT VIEW: Home prices fall in February-S&P

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home prices fell 18.6 percent in February from a year earlier but the rapid pace of decline slowed, perhaps indicating the housing market may be nudging closer to a bottom, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released on Tuesday.

KEY POINTS: * The composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in February from January, S&P said in a statement. The depreciation on a month-over-month was above expectations based on a Reuters survey of economists, but below on a year-over-year basis. The 20-city index dates back to 2000. * Of the 20 metro areas, 10 showed record rates of annual decline, and 15 reported declines in excess of 10 percent versus February 2008. * S&P said its composite index of 10 metropolitan areas declined 2.1 percent in February from January for an 18.8 percent year-over-year drop. The 10-city index dates to 1988. * For the first time in 16 months, the annual decline of the 10-city and 20-city composites did not set a record.

COMMENTS:

BRIAN DOLAN, CHIEF CURRENCY STRATEGIST, FOREX.COM, BEDMINSTER, NEW JERSEY:

"We've seen downturns overnight in most of the risk assets, and this slightly better-than-expected Case/Shiller data has fueled some short-covering in the yen crosses and euro. The euro moved above a 21-hour moving average around 1.3040 after the data. But I think it's just another rally to sell on, what with swine flu and banking woes.

"On housing, there's been some stabilization, but distressed home sales still make up 50 percent of sales activity, and that's worrying. It makes it difficult to judge where the price bottom is."

JAMES O'SULLIVAN, ECONOMIST, UBS SECURITIES LLC, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT:

"This shows continues weakness in housing. There is some evidence that the rate of decline is fading. Prices are still going down and inventories are still quite high. The turn in prices will lag in the turn in sales. We haven't seen a bottom in home prices. At this point, it's limited of how much fading we've seen."

MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: U.S. stock index futures hold losses BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices hold gains DOLLAR: U.S. dollar extends losses versus euro