UPDATE 1-U.S. purchase mortgage activity falls to 2-month low -MBA

NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. applications for mortgages to buy a home fell to their lowest level in nearly two months last week even as 30-year borrowing costs slipped, Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

The Washington-based group's seasonally adjusted barometer on purchase mortgage activity, a proxy for future home sales, fell 2.2 percent to 240.1 in the week ended July 21. That was the weakest reading since 238.1 in the May 26 week.

Housing demand has remained sturdy despite a rise in mortgage rates this year. Home sales have been hampered by low inventories across the country.

Interest rates on conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.17 percent from 4.22 percent the prior

week.

Conforming loans are those with balances of $424,100 or less that qualify for guarantees from federal mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Average rates on other types of mortgages that the MBA tracks fell 3 to 12 basis points from the preceding week.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted gauge of applications of refinancing applications rose 3.4 percent to 1,414.3, the highest level in five weeks.

The group's barometer on total mortgage applications adjusted for seasonal factors edged up 0.4 percent to 418.5.

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UPDATE 1-Poland expects long term deal for U.S. LNG supplies

Poland expects to sign a long-term deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the U.S. to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, the country's President Andrzej Duda said after meeting U.S. president Donald Trump. Poland imports most of the 16 billion cubic metres of gas it consumes a year from Russia, on the basis of a long-term deal with Gazprom which expires in 2022. Warsaw plans to replace the Russian gas after then with supplies from Norway via a planned pipeline as well as with more LNG from the U.S. coming to its terminal at the Baltic Sea. Duda spoke to Trump, who is visiting Warsaw, about Poland's security and gas supplies. "Let's hope for more supplies and further diversification of supplies of this commodity to Poland," Duda said

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