Investing.com - The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in February and announced no change to its asset purchase facility program, it said on Thursday.
The BoE said it was maintaining the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move. The bank also said it was to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at GBP375 billion.
The minutes of the meeting of the central bank’s monetary policy committee will be published on Wednesday, February 19.
Following the announcement, the pound trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD shedding 0.02% to trade at 1.6307, compared to 1.6284 ahead of the announcement.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained higher. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9%, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 1.1%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.2%, while Germany's DAX tacked on 1.2%.