The Great Britain pound rallied to the highest level since May against the US dollar and rose versus the Japanese yen today after UK unemployment claims unexpectedly fell last month. The currency gained even as the unemployment rate rose.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the jobless claims fell 15,000 in July, while a small increase was expected. At the same time, the unemployment rate went up by 0.1 percentage point to 8.1 percent. The Conference Board leading indicators for the United Kingdom rose 0.1 percent in July, following the 0.4 percent decrease in June.
Today’s positive reports added to yesterday’s good data, improving the outlook for Britain’s economy. That does not mean that the country is out of the woods yet, but at least some positive developments can be expected.
GBP/USD climbed from 1.6092 to 1.6104 as of 21:39 GMT today, reaching the high of 1.6130 intraday — the highest price since May 11. GBP/JPY advanced from 124.94 to 125.35.
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