The pound rose against the dollar, bound for its first weekly gain in a month, after a report showed U.S. employers added fewer jobs than forecast last month. The U.K. currency declined against the euro. U.S. payrolls increased 39,000 in November, less than the most pessimistic projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest since April, while hours worked and earnings stagnated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The reason the pound gained “is obviously the U.S. labor market report,” said Hans-Guenter Redeker, head of global currency strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London. “Sterling’s pretty much impacted by developments in the U.S. dollar and we have seen sterling rebounding.” The pound appreciated 0.6 percent to $1.5689 at 2.46 p.m. in London. It weakened 0.6 percent to 85.18 pence per euro. Sterling was set for a weekly fall of 0.2 percent against the common currency. A U.K. index of growth in services businesses published by Markit Economics Ltd. and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply today stayed close to a four-month high in November. U.K. government bonds were little changed with the 10-year yield near a two-week high at 3.4 percent. The two-year note yield was little changed at 1 percent. Gilts are headed for a weekly decline with the 10-year yield rising three basis points. To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net.

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