Investing.com - The pound rose to almost four year highs against the dollar on Wednesday after data showed that the U.K. unemployment rate fell to a five year low in the three months to February, bolstering the outlook for the wider economic recovery.
GBP/USD was last up 0.52% to 1.6812, not far from the peaks of 1.6821 struck on February 17, the highest level since November 2009.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6718, the session low and resistance at 1.6821.
The pound strengthened after the Office for National Statistics reported that the U.K. unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 6.9% in the three months to February, down from a downwardly revised 7.1% in the three months to January, compared to expectations for 7.1%.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell by a slightly larger than forecast 30,400 to 1.142 million in March, the lowest level since November 2008. February’s claimant count was revised to 37,000 from a previously reported 34,600.
Average earnings in the three months to February grew 1.7% compared with a year earlier, the ONS said.
Official data on Tuesday showed that the annual rate of consumer inflation in the U.K. fell to 1.6% in March, indicating that wages are growing faster than price increases for the first time since the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
Elsewhere, sterling rose to one-week highs against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.255 to 0.8236 from 0.8260 ahead of the data.