13 February 2002, 13:29 Sterling firms after decline in claimant count jobless figures
LONDON (AFX) - Sterling firmed against major currencies after the
UK claimant count jobless figures showed an unexpected fall in January,
economists said.
Official figures from National Statistics showed the claimant count
falling a seasonally adjusted 10,600 in January to 0.951 mln, while the
market was looking for a rise.
However, the ILO measure showed UK unemployment rising 34,000 to
1.546 mln in the three months to December, with the rate up 0.1 points
on the previous three months at 5.2 pct.
Adrian Schmidt, economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, pointed
out that while the claimant count figure was better-than-expected, "the
Bank of England's preferred measure was the ILO data, which is lagged
by one month.
"On a claimant count unemployment trends are broadly flat, on the
ILO count, unemployment is rising somewhat. I would be a little bit
careful to read too much into the claimant account data," he said.
However, the economist noted that the biggest surprise came from
weak earnings numbers, with average growth standing at 3.3 pct in the
three months to December.
"Average earnings were miles below expectations and probably relate
mostly to city bonuses, because the ex-bonus numbers were much
stronger. That is going to be seen as less of a reason to be worried
about inflation pressures," he added.
"At the moment a stronger employment data and weaker earnings data
is a bit of a wash really, they balance each other out," he concluded.
At 10.00 am, sterling traded at 1.4341 usd, and 0.6103 against the
euro compared with 1.4329 usd and 0.6117 against prior to the release.
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