Investing.com -- The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold on Thursday, keeping its base rate at 5.25%, halting a run of 14th consecutive increases since December 2021.
This decision had been seen as finely balanced, as data earlier in the week had showed a surprise drop in U.K. inflation in August, although it remained considerably above the bank's 2% medium-term target.
The U.K. headline consumer price index sank to an 18-month low of 6.7% in August, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell sharply to 6.2% from 6.9% in July.
Britain's inflation rate has fallen from a peak above 11% last October but even after the latest drop it remained among the highest in the industrialized world.
At 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT), GBP/USD fell 0.7% to 1.2259, with sterling falling to its weakest level versus the U.S. dollar since early March.