Sterling surged on Tuesday due to record-pacing British basic salaries, causing the Bank of England to worry about inflation.

The yuan fell to a nine-month low after China’s central bank cut key policy rates.

The Russian rouble gave up early gains after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 12%.

The pound was last 0.2% higher at $1.2705, the highest annual growth rate since 2001.

The UK unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 4.2%, but money market traders anticipate the Bank of England to hike rates by at least 25 basis points next month due to concerns high pay growth may cause second-round inflation.

The dollar rose over 0.5% against the offshore yuan after the People’s Bank of China reduced rates to bolster a slowing economy.

The dollar index fell 0.1% to 103.04 Demand for safe assets rose after disappointing Chinese economic indicators raised concerns about global growth.

The U.S. dollar rose to 145.865 yen, but settled at 145.5 Traders are looking for signs of intervention, but concerns about intervention are putting a lid on the dollar-yen around these levels.