Wednesday May 14, 09:59 AM
Forex - Pound dented by weak UK labour market data
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The pound took another dent today after the latest official figures showed a third consecutive rise in the number of Britons seeking jobless claims.
The Office for National Statistics said the claimant
count rose by 7,200 in April, confounding analysts' forecasts for an unchanged reading. To make matters worse, the figure for March was revised up to show an increase of 3,600, compared with the previous estimate of a 1,200 decline. This means the claimant count has now risen for three consecutive months, the first time this has happened since April to June 2006, raising fears that a weak economy is starting to impact the jobs market.
The news adds to the woes facing the UK economy -- namely rising inflation, falling house prices and now a weakening job market.
At 9.35 a.m., the pound was at $1.9423, down from $1.9445 earlier. The euro was up at 0.7929 pound from 0.7925.
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