Investing.com – The euro rose to a fresh six-month high against the pound on Wednesday, after official data showing that the jobless rate in the U.K. unexpectedly fell in March, but the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly.
EUR/GBP hit 0.8924 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since October 25; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8915, easing up 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8821, Tuesday’s low and short-term resistance at 0.8941, the high of October 25 and a seven-month high.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 700 in March after a revised 8,500 fall in February, confounding expectations for a fall of 4,200.
But the overall number of people without a job fell by 17,000 in the three months to February to 2.4 million, taking the jobless rate down to 7.8%, compared with forecasts for a steady reading of 8.0%. It was the first fall in the jobless rate since last September.
The report also said wage growth slowed, with average weekly earnings growth including bonuses easing to 2.0% from 2.3% in the three months to January. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2.6%.
The pound was unchanged against the U.S. dollar following the report, at 1.6255.
Also Wednesday, official data showed that industrial production in the euro zone rose less-than-expected in February.
EUR/GBP hit 0.8924 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since October 25; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8915, easing up 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8821, Tuesday’s low and short-term resistance at 0.8941, the high of October 25 and a seven-month high.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 700 in March after a revised 8,500 fall in February, confounding expectations for a fall of 4,200.
But the overall number of people without a job fell by 17,000 in the three months to February to 2.4 million, taking the jobless rate down to 7.8%, compared with forecasts for a steady reading of 8.0%. It was the first fall in the jobless rate since last September.
The report also said wage growth slowed, with average weekly earnings growth including bonuses easing to 2.0% from 2.3% in the three months to January. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2.6%.
The pound was unchanged against the U.S. dollar following the report, at 1.6255.
Also Wednesday, official data showed that industrial production in the euro zone rose less-than-expected in February.