Sterling climbs vs. dollar for first time in four sessions

Sterling tiled higher against the dollar in American trade, following earlier data from Britain, and after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen presented the first half of her Congressional testimony ahead of the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee. 

As of 05:46 GMT, GBP/USD rose 0.33% to 1.2891 from the opening of 1.2848, with an intraday high at 1.2907, and the lowest since June 28 at 1.2812. 

Earlier UK data showed the unemployment rate for the three months ending May plummeting to 4.5%,the lowest since 1975, from 4.6, while jobless claims rose 6.0 thousand, below expectations of 10.5 thousand, as average wages slowed down to 1.8% y/y in line with forecasts. 

Otherwise from the US, Yellen mentioned the continued strength of the labor market, as the economy grew moderately, while inflation calmed in recent months, which nudged the Federal Open Market Committee to monitor more closely the actual and projected progress towards the 2% target for prices, while asserting that rate hikes on federal money will come gradually later. 

Yellen expects gradual tightening on monetary policy to allow for moderate economic expansion in the next two years, as the labor sector improves and inflation reaches 2%. 

Yellen evaluated short-term risks as roughly balanced, asserting the FOMC will continued monitoring growth and keep the policy accommodative to afford further support to jobs and inflation.