Pound Slides Against Yen as UK Wage Growth Cools and Rate-Cut Bets Rise

The British pound dropped against the Japanese yen on Tuesday following the release of UK employment data that showed slower wage growth and higher unemployment.

The Office for National Statistics reported a 5.4% increase in average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, in the three months to November, down from 5.6% in the previous period.

This was slightly below the 5.5% forecast by economists and suggests that the UK labor market is loosening, which could ease domestic inflationary pressures.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, while the number of payroll employees fell by 47,000 in December, marking the first decline since mid-2021.