The pound rose for a fifth day against the dollar as a jump in U.K. retail sales last month stoked speculation the Bank of England will move closer to raising interest rates as the economy strengthens.
Sterling appreciated versus all but two of its 16 major counterparts. While minutes of this month’s meeting showed officials on the BOE’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent, they also indicated the policy decision was becoming “more balanced” for some of the nine members. U.K. government bonds fell for a fourth day.
The pound rose 0.3 percent to $1.6886 at 10:34 a.m. London time after reaching $1.6921, the highest level since May 9. Sterling added 0.3 percent to 81.17 pence per euro, after touching 81.03 pence, the strongest level since January 2013.
The U.K. currency strengthened in the past 12 months as speculation shifted to the timing of the first increase in central bank rates from bets the BOE may have been prepared to add stimulus. Sterling gained more than 10 percent since this time last year, the best performer among 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro added 4.5 percent, and the dollar fell 2.2 percent
No comments:
Post a Comment