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Against the yen, battered in the aftermath of last week's surprise round of policy easing by the Bank of Japan, the pound rose to a six-year high of 180.68 yen after the data.
The FTSE 100, however, was a touch lower after the data, extending losses on the day to 0.3 percent.
The spread in yields between British 10-year government bonds and equivalent German bunds hit its widest since Oct. 7 after the manufacturing data was released, increasing by more than one basis point to 142.7. December gilt futures pared their gains and were down about 10 ticks at 115.22.