Forex News – Pound jumps after upbeat UK jobs data and BOE minutes
July 17, 2013 9:40 am
Sterling jumped against the dollar rand the euro on Wednesday after investors reacted positively to the minutes of the last Bank of England policy meeting on July 3-4 that were released at 9:30 am London time.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting pattern was revealed, showing all MPC policy makers voted unanimously to keep the BOE’s quantitative easing program unchanged.
This was new BOE governor Mark Carney’s first meeting, and the MPC voted 9-0 to keep the target of its asset purchase at 375 billion pounds. All nine MPC voters also wanted to keep the key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent.
GBPUSD jumped 150 pips to hit a high of $1.5244 and ERUGBP fell to 86.32 pence from a four-month high of 87.09 pence.
Also giving the pound a boost was upbeat U.K. jobs data which showed that the number of Britons claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. declined significantly more-than-expected in June and the unemployment rate remained unchanged.
The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 21,200 in June, better than expectations for a decline of 8,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised to a drop of 16,200 people from a previously reported decrease of 8,600.
The rate of unemployment held steady at 7.8 percent in May, in line with expectations and unchanged from April.
Sterling jumped against the dollar rand the euro on Wednesday after investors reacted positively to the minutes of the last Bank of England policy meeting on July 3-4 that were released at 9:30 am London time.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting pattern was revealed, showing all MPC policy makers voted unanimously to keep the BOE’s quantitative easing program unchanged.
This was new BOE governor Mark Carney’s first meeting, and the MPC voted 9-0 to keep the target of its asset purchase at 375 billion pounds. All nine MPC voters also wanted to keep the key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent.
GBPUSD jumped 150 pips to hit a high of $1.5244 and ERUGBP fell to 86.32 pence from a four-month high of 87.09 pence.
Also giving the pound a boost was upbeat U.K. jobs data which showed that the number of Britons claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. declined significantly more-than-expected in June and the unemployment rate remained unchanged.
The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 21,200 in June, better than expectations for a decline of 8,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised to a drop of 16,200 people from a previously reported decrease of 8,600.
The rate of unemployment held steady at 7.8 percent in May, in line with expectations and unchanged from April.
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