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Average earnings in the U.K. grew better than expected in March and the jobless rate rose slightly, while the fall in employment was less than expected and vacancies continued to decline, giving more evidence of a cooling labor market to Bank of England that is preparing to lower interest rates soon.

The UK economy ended a technical recession in the first quarter with the economic output growing better than expected and also marked the strongest since late 2021 led by a rebound in the services output and household spending. Gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent from the fourth quarter, when the economy shrunk 0.3 percent, preliminary estimates from the Office for National Statistics showed.

The Bank of England left its key policy rate unchanged for the sixth consecutive meeting and signaled that the first rate cut since 2020 is on the horizon. The Monetary Policy Committee decided to hold the Bank Rate at 5.25 percent again in a split vote. The current bank rate is the highest since early 2008.

UK house prices rose only marginally in April as rising interest rate expectations weighed on the property market, data published by the mortgage lender Halifax showed on Tuesday. House prices posted a monthly increase of 0.1 percent in April, which was weaker than the expected 0.2 percent growth. However, this was in contrast to the 0.9 percent fall in March.