Investing.com - The jobless rate in the U.K. fell to the lowest level since mid-2008 in October, underlining optimism over the health of the labor market, official data showed on Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics said that the rate of unemployment dipped to 5.2% in the three months to October from 5.3% in the preceding three-month period. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 5.3%.
The report also showed that the claimant count rose by a seasonally adjusted 3,900 in November, disappointing expectations for an increase of 1,500 people, and following a gain of 200 a month earlier, whose figure was revised from a previously reported gain of 3,300.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5008 from around 1.5002 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7282 from 0.7285 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mixed in quiet trade. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.4%, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.1%, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.1%, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.1%.