The Pound Sterling (GBP) attracts significant bids against its major peers on Tuesday after the release of the upbeat United Kingdom (UK) labor market data for the three-months ending June.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the economy created fresh 239K jobs in the second quarter of the year, well above the 134K workers hired in the three months ending May. This is a significant recovery from earlier indicatores, which showed that firms became reluctant to increase their workforce due to the increase in employers' contributions to social security schemes to 15%.
The ILO Unemployment Rate came in steady at 4.7%, as expected. Claimant Count Change for July declined by 6.2K, while it was expected to increase to 20.8K.
Meanwhile, Average Earnings data, a key measure of wage growth, showed signs of slightly moderating growth. Excluding bonuses, earnings rose at a steady rate of 5% on year, as expected. Average Earnings Including Bonuses grew at a slower pace of 4.6%, compared to estimates of 4.7% and the prior reading of 5%.
Upbeat job growth data is expected to allow Bank of England (BoE) officials to maintain their "gradual and careful" monetary expansion stance. Last week, the BoE cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4%, with a slim majority.
This week, investors will also focus on the UK Preliminary Q2 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and factory data for June, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday.
Source: FXstreet
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