LONDON/TOKYO -- The pound slumped against the dollar and euro on Friday after shock data showed that Britain was still shackled by deep recession in the third quarter, traders said. Sterling dropped to 1.6459 dollars from 1.6619 dollars in New York late on Thursday, in response to the figures showing contraction in contrast to expected growth. The euro jumped to 0.9130 pounds from 0.9041 pounds late on Thursday. In London on Friday, the euro was changing hands at 1.5022 dollars against 1.5027 dollars late on Thursday, at 137.92 yen (137.20), 0.9130 pounds (0.9041) and 1.5123 Swiss francs (1.5099). The dollar stood at 91.79 yen (91.28) and 1.0066 Swiss francs (1.0040). The pound was at 1.6459 dollars (1.6619). On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to 1,058.65 dollars an ounce from 1,053 dollars an ounce late on Thursday. The dollar was mixed in regional Asian trade. It rose to 9,480.63 Indonesian rupiah from 9,477.50 and to 47.21 Philippine pesos from 47.13, while holding steady at 32.40 Taiwan dollars. The greenback fell to 1,181.25 South Korean won from 1,189.75, to 1.3927 Singapore dollars from 1.3962 and to 33.44 Thai baht from 33.47. “Sterling took a hit on surprisingly weak GDP figures which means that the UK is not following France and Germany out of recession,” said Spreadex trader Arifa Sheikh-Usmani. ING Bank analyst James Knightley added: “More worryingly from sterling's perspective is the fact that the UK may be the only major economy to have contracted in the third quarter.” Japan has also emerged from recession and the United States is expected to return to positive growth in the third quarter. Britain proved unable to climb out of its deep recession in the third quarter, when the country's output unexpectedly slumped by 0.4 percent, official data showed on Friday. “Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 0.4 percent in the third quarter of 2009, compared with a decrease of 0.6 percent in the second quarter,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Economists had expected Britain to climb out of recession in the July-September period with a return to growth of 0.2 percent after five quarters of shrinking output. The euro hit a 14-month high of 1.5060 dollar in Asian trade, before falling back in European deals. Traders assessed data showing private sector business activity in the 16-nation eurozone grew in October at its fastest rate since December 2007. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the 16 countries using the single currency, compiled by data and research group Markit, rose to 53.0 points from 51.1 points in September. In August, it ended 14 months of decline. Manufacturing output rose for the third month running, at its fastest rate since November 2007. The services sector expanded for a second month in a row, but trailed manufacturing growth. The number of people in employment, however, fell for the 16th month in a row. Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the results “indicate that the eurozone economy has entered the fourth quarter on a strong note, with growth accelerating in both manufacturing and services.”

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