London, March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The British pound was little changed near anine-day low against the dollar before U.K. labor market reports expected toreinforce the view that the U.K. doesn't need to cut interest rates by as much asthe U.S. Sterling was trading at $1.4483, compared with $1.4487 late yesterday, when itposted its biggest one-day loss since Feb. 8. It has fallen 3 percent against theU.S. currency this year. Against the euro, it was at 63.12 pence, compared with63.08. Wage growth probably rose to 4.6 percent in the three months to January from4.4 percent in December, according to a Bloomberg News survey. U.K.joblessness probably remained unchanged at 3.5 percent in February, with thenumber of people claiming unemployment benefits falling by 10,000, analystssaid. The figures are due at 9:30 a.m. London time. ``The U.K. will cut 25 basis points at its next meeting,'' compared with a 50 basispoints cut by the Federal Reserve on March 20, said Roy Adams, who overseesabout $8.8 billion at Old Mutual Asset Managers. He sees the widening rate gapboosting the pound to ``$1.47 to $1.48 in the next month.'' Higher interest rates tend to bolster currencies by attracting investors to short-term deposits. The Bank of England's benchmark rate of 5.75 percent compares with 5.5 percentin the U.S. The severity of the U.S. slowdown means the Fed will carry out astring of rate cuts in coming months, in contrast to one or two cuts in the U.K.,where growth has remained steady, investors said. ``The U.K. economy is doing okay. It has the highest interest rates of the majoreconomies'' which will boost the pound, said Savvas Ladonikolas, vice presidentin foreign exchange at ING Barings. Traders will also be focusing on retail sales figures tomorrow to gauge the state ofthe U.K.'s economy. Major U.S. reports this week include the PhiladelphiaFederal Reserve's economic index tomorrow, and the University of Michigan'sconsumer sentiment index, producer prices and industrial production figures onFriday.