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Pound Slips From Post-Brexit High as Wage Data Disappoints Hawks

Pound Hits Post-Brexit Vote High as Investors Look to Labor Data

(Bloomberg) -- The pound is the best-performing major currency this year, but its run of strength is proving vulnerable to economic data this week.

Sterling erased gains on Tuesday as U.K. wage growth wasn’t quite as strong as hoped, after touching its highest level since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union. The currency may become more sensitive to data misses, after a rally driven by bets on a Bank of England interest-rate increase, the dollar’s weakness and seasonal flows traditionally seen in April.

Pound Slips From Post-Brexit High as Wage Data Disappoints Hawks

Market pricing for a Bank of England interest-rate hike in May pulled back slightly following the labor data to 84 percent. U.K. average weekly wage growth held at 2.8 percent in the three months through February, versus the 3.0 percent expected by a Bloomberg survey of economists. Traders will next watch inflation data on Wednesday, with annual consumer-price increases seen steady at 2.7 percent in March.

“The sharp moves in the pound highlight that some positives are in the price, so that the impact of potential disappointments from today’s labor market data, the CPI release tomorrow and the retail sales on Thursday may be disproportionately greater,” said Valentin Marinov, head of Group-of-10 currency research at Credit Agricole CIB. “It would take a more aggressive hawkish message from the monetary policy committee to fuel any further pound rally.”

The pound slipped 0.1 percent to $1.4323 as of 10:31 a.m. in London, after touching $1.4377 earlier, the highest since June 24, 2016. The currency has gained 6 percent against the dollar so far this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Charlotte Ryan in London at cryan147@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Scott Hamilton, Neil Chatterjee

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