Investing.com - The pound eased lower against the dollar on Wednesday after data showing that UK wage growth slowed in July, while the unemployment rate remained steady.
GBP/USD was last at 1.5571, down from around 1.5593 ahead of the jobs report.
The Office for National Statistics said average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses remained unchanged at an annualized 2.8% in the three months to June.
Including bonuses, growth in average weekly earnings slowed to 2.4%, down from 3.2% in the three months to May.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6% in the three months to June, in line with forecasts.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits declined by 4,900 to 792,400 in July, the ONS said.
The Bank of England is closely monitoring the labor market as it contemplates when to start raising interest rates for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2008.
Last week investors pushed back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike after the minutes of the BoE’s latest meeting showed that only one policymaker voted in favor of a rate increase this month.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.76% to 0.7147.
The common currency was boosted after China devalued the yuan for a second day on Wednesday, prompting investors to unwind euro-funded positions on the Chinese currency.
The yuan fell sharply against the dollar for the second straight day after the People's Bank of China set the yuan's midpoint rate weaker than at Tuesday's closing.
China devalued its currency by 2% in a surprise move on Tuesday to make its exports more competitive and shore up growth in the flagging economy.
The PBOC has described the move as a “one-off depreciation”, based on a new way of managing the exchange rate that better reflected market forces.
The pound was close to one-year highs against the yuan, with GBP/CNY at 9.94.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.58% to 96.67.