LONDON, July 18 Reuters The pound dipped on Thursday, but still headed for a fourth weekly gain versus the dollar, after another round of UK data fed into the view that the Bank of England may not have as much scope to cut rates at its August meeting.

Official UK data showed average weekly earnings excluding bonuses a key gauge of inflation pressure for the BoE grew by 5.7 in the three months to the end of May compared with a year earlier, in line with median forecasts.

Sterling was last 0.1 lower at 1.2995, having traded at a session high of 1.30125 right before the wage growth numbers.

The slight decline in wage growth will be welcome to the Bank of England, after the disappointing services inflation yesterday. There is still some key data to come before the August Monetary Policy Report but the decision is very finely balanced, Hetal Mehta, head of economic research at St. Jamess Place, said.

On Wednesday, the monthly consumer price report showed servicesector inflation, another of the BoE39;s areas of concern, held at 5.7, while headline inflation remained at 2.

Economic growth is also picking up. A report on July 11 showed total British gross domestic product increased by 0.4 in May, after zero growth in April, above forecasts for a rise of 0.2.

Futures markets are attaching a 40 chance of a quarterpoint cut to 5.0 when the BoE meets on Aug. 1, down from 50 at the start of the week and from 60 at the start of July.

The pound crossed the 1.30 mark for the…