Sterling slipped to the day's lows against the euro and the dollar on Friday after UK manufacturing data showed an unexpected drop in September. The UK CIPS/ September manufacturing PMI gave a reading of 52.2, from 52.8 in August and against a consensus forecast of 53.5. This was its lowest reading since July 2003. Sterling weakened to 68.75 pence per euro from 68.67 before the data, and to $1.8037 from $1.8060 before the data release. Sterling hit seven-month lows of 68.78 pence on Thursday, as investors scaled back expectations of higher UK interest rates.|||

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