Investing.com - Minutes from the Bank of England's most recent policy meeting released Wednesday showed that the Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to keep rates on hold and its quantitative-easing program unchanged.
The minutes show seven members were in favor of leaving the key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and making no changes to the central bank's £375 billion asset-purchase program.
However, dissenting members Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty voted for a 0.25% hike in the benchmark rate to 0.75% for the fourth consecutive meeting.
The minutes said that policymakers see a small chance of inflation expectations drifting lower and that there is a risk slack may soon be exhausted, boosting CPI pressure.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5646 from around 1.5596 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.8011 from 0.8035 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mildly higher. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 inched up 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 tacked on 0.1%, while Germany's DAX advanced 0.2%.