The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate the same, as well as announced that it will not expand its quantitative easing plan at this time. The news served to help bring the UK pound higher against the US dollar and the euro today.
There is some speculation that the Bank of England will have to make more efforts at stimulus, at some point if the economy doesn’t pick up. However, it appears as though policymakers are reasonably pleased with the current state of things; at least, they are in no rush to make a move that will devalue the pound further.
As a result of the announcement that the asset repurchase program will remain the same, the UK pound is seeing a bit of a boost. There is help from risk appetite in general against the US dollar. Against the euro, the pound is still seen as something of a European safe haven, especially since there is speculation that the ECB might need to boost stimulus efforts for the 17-nation currency zone.
At 12:22 GMT GBP/USD is higher at 1.5588, up from the open at 1.5496. EUR/GBP is lower at 0.8080, down from the open at 0.8120. GBP/JPY is up to 124.0475 from the open at 122.7150.
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