Pound gains on unemployment rate

Financial and commodity markets analytics

The British pound is on the comeback trail today after the unemployment rate in the UK hit its lowest level in over 30 years but with wage growth following to keep up, some say it is a dead bounce

At 10.24am (GMT) the British currency was trading at $12861 after hitting a low of $1.2808 and up from $1.2847 in yesterday’s close.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent last month, but it is the wage growth in the UK that is still causing a headache for the Bank of England, coming in at 1.8 percent which is well below the latest inflation figures at 2.9 percent and some within the BOE like the deputy governor are calling on his fellow board members to leave rates unchanged for the time being,

"In my opinion, it is a bit tricky at the moment to make a decision to raise rates. I am not ready to do it yet," noted Bank of England's deputy governor Ben Broadbent

"There is reason to see the committee moving in that direction higher interest rates but there are still a lot of imponderables." He added.

The pound has now become a very interest rate sensitive currency and some analysts are warning investors about placing their bets on any rate hikes in the nearest future out of fear being burnt,

"Investors who sought fresh insight into the outlook on UK interest rates were left empty-handed on Tuesday after Bank of England’s Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent maintained a safe distance from monetary policy discussions “noted FXTM Research Analyst Lukman Otunuga

"Although the hawkish remarks made a couple of weeks ago by BoE’s Mark Carney and Andrew Haldane may continue to support rate hike expectations in the background, questions should be asked whether the central bank will actually raise interest rates during such fragile economic conditions”. He added.