CURRENCY VIEW

NEWS UPDATE :
Pound Extends Decline After U.K. Unemployment Data, BOE Minutes
The pound fell to a one-month low against the euro after a government report showed U.K. unemployment rose and wage increases slowed, adding to evidence the economy is weakening.
Sterling also dropped against the dollar as minutes of the Bank of England’s April 3-4 meeting showed policy makers grappled with a “trade-off between output growth and inflation” before leaving monetary policy unchanged. The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for the U.K. economy yesterday and suggested the government and the central bank should increase stimulus to boost the recovery.
The pound fell 0.7 percent to 86.37 pence per euro at 10:28 a.m. London time after depreciating to 86.25 pence, the weakest since March 15. The currency dropped 0.6 percent to $1.5267.
Joblessness as measured by International Labour Organisation methods rose by 70,000 to 2.56 million in the three months through February, the most since November 2011, the Office for National Statistics said. The unemployment rate climbed to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in the previous quarter.