LONDON, Nov 14 Reuters The pound trod water on Tuesday as traders held their fire ahead of U.S. inflation data that could be key in dictating the nearterm direction of the dollar against other currencies.

British data earlier in the day showed UK workers39; wages grew slightly less quickly in the three months to September, but remained close to their record pace.

The figures will likely do little to ease the Bank of England39;s concerns about inflationary pressures and did nothing to change marketbased forecasts for a UK rate cut in June 2024 at the earliest.

Most major central banks are widely expected to have wrapped up their campaign to raise interest rates, so the focus has shifted to when the first cuts will materialise.

Unlike UK wage data, Tuesday39;s U.S. inflation report could do more to dictate the nearterm outlook for sterling, given that it will shape those expectations and either give the dollar another boost, or knock it back .

There is not enough in this jobs report to see big FX or rates moves and sterling is likely to remain in a narrow trading range, albeit to the firmer side, ahead of the U.S. CPI this afternoon and the UK CPI data tomorrow, MUFG head of research for global markets Derek Halpenny said.

Sterling was up 0.1 against the dollar at 1.2284 and flat against the euro at 87.11 pence.

The pound has surrendered a lot of this year39;s gains, but, together with the Swiss franc , is one of only two G10 currencies to still hold in positive…