The pound weakened against the euro after a report showed confidence in the employment outlook fell for a third-straight month in September to its lowest since February, underlining the fragility of the economy. Sterling weakened versus most of its 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg, losing most against South Africa’s rand and Singapore’s dollar. The Bank of England last week boosted its asset-purchase program by 75 billion pounds ($117 billion) to 275 billion pounds in a bid to revive U.K. growth. Central bank policy maker David Miles is to give a speech to the Royal Economic Society in London today. Sterling depreciated 0.5 percent to 86.41 pence per euro at 8:19 a.m. in London, and strengthened 0.2 percent to $1.5595. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index of stocks gained 0.3 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent. An index of consumer sentiment about hiring prospects fell 1 point to minus 67 from August, taking its decline over the third quarter to 17 points, a unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc said in an e-mailed statement today. The pound fell against most of its major counterparts last week as the Bank of England’s reactivation of its quantitative- easing program fueled concern that rising inflation will erode the value of the currency. The central bank, which expects to complete the new round of purchases in four months, said slowing global growth and the turmoil in Europe “threaten the U.K. recovery.” “There is quite a lot of scope for further quantitative easing,” policy maker Martin Weale said yesterday in an interview with Sky News. The pound has declined 0.7 percent in the past six months, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes, which measure a basket of 10 developed-market currencies. To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Charlton in London at echarlton1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net.

Source