2009.01.0705:35:00UTC+00British pound Pares Recent Gains Against Majors

During early European deals on Wednesday, the British pound pared much of the gains it posted against its major counterparts during Asian session.

Against the US dollar, the pound weakened to 1.4809 by about 5:00 am ET Wednesday, after rising to 1.4972 by about 2:50 am ET. The pair closed Tuesday's deals at 1.4922.

The US challenger job cuts, ADP employment change are the major economic releases scheduled for the New York session today.

UK's sterling equaled 138.02 yen at about 5:00 am ET, Wednesday, moving down from an Asian session high of 140.33. And against the euro, the sterling dropped to 0.9177, from 0.9031 by about 2:10 am ET. The pound-yen pair and euro-pound pairs were worth 139.76 and 0.9076 respectively at Tuesday's North American close.

The Eurostat revealed in a report that the Eurozone industrial producer price index, or PPI rose 3.3% year-over-year in November, slower than the 6.3% recorded in the previous month. Economists were looking for the rate of 4.4%.

The German Federal Statistical Office said in a report today that the ILO jobless rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 7.1% in November, compared with 8% recorded in the previous year. In October, the rate was 7.1%. The November rate was in line with economists' expectations.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Federal Labor Agency showed that the number of unemployed in Germany rose seasonally adjusted 18,000 in December. The number exceeded the expected figure of 10,000. At the same time, the labor office revised November's decrease to 4,000 from 10,000 reported initially.

In Asian deals on Wednesday, the pound advanced to 1.6680 against the franc at about 2:05 am ET. Thereafter, the pound lost ground and is now trading near 1.6345 francs, compared to 1.6623 hit late Tuesday in New York.

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