Pound Touches Day’s Highs on Strong Wage Growth Figures
Tuesday,
16-Oct-2018
03:58 PM (IST)
The pound rose to the day’s highs on Tuesday after data showing that wage growth in the UK accelerated at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years in August, bolstering the outlook for the economy.GBP/USD hit a high of 1.3209 and was at 1.3194, up 0.33% for the day.Average earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by an annual 3.1% in the three months to August, the Office of National Statistics reported. It was the fastest increase since Jan. 2009.Including bonuses, pay growth rose by an annualized 2.7%, the quickest growth since February.The annual rate of inflation in the UK was 2.5% in August, indicating only a modest boost to workers spending power.The unemployment rate held as expected at 4.0% in August.Sterling was also higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.3% to 0.8776 from around 0.8789 earlier.
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