By Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla
LONDON (Reuters) -British wage growth slowed in the three months to September, according to data on Tuesday that will bolster expectations for a Bank of England interest
rate cut next month.
Wage growth, excluding bonuses, slowed slightly to 4.6% in the three months to September compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.
A Reuters poll of economists had mostly expected regular annual wage growth of 4.6% for the July-September period, slightly weaker than an increase of 4.7% in the three months to August.
The pound dropped by around a quarter of a cent against the dollar after the data, which chimed with the BoE's view that it would need more evidence of abating inflationary pressure to justify another interest rate cut.
The Bank of England is closely watching pay growth for signs of how persistent domestic inflation pressures are likely to prove. BoE officials held interest rates at 4% last week, and hinted that it could reduce borrowing costs in December.
Wage growth excluding bonuses in the private sector - a key metric for the BoE - cooled to 4.2% in the three months to September, as the central bank had predicted in forecasts published at the start of the month.
Interest rate futures on Monday had pointed to a roughly 61% chance of an interest rate cut at the BoE's next meeting on December 18, according to LSEG calculations.
(Reporting by Suban Abdulla and Andy Bruce; editing by Sarah Young)
