Investing.com - The pound edged lower against the dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England left monetary policy on hold, as investors awaited the outcome of the European Central Bank’s monthly meeting later in the day.
GBP/USD was down 0.13% to 1.5666 from around 1.5678 ahead of the announcement.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee left U.K. interest rates on hold at their current record low of 0.5% and maintained the size of its asset purchase program at £375 billion.
The minutes of the meeting are to be published on December 17.
The minutes of the BoE’s November policy meeting showed that two policymakers voted in favor of 0.25% hike in the benchmark rate for the fourth consecutive meeting.
Sterling was also slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.13% to 0.7858 from 0.7849 earlier.
The euro’s gains were held in check amid heightened expectations for additional stimulus measures from the ECB.
The annual rate of euro area inflation slowed to a five year low of 0.3% in November, down from 0.4% in October and well below the ECB’s 2% target.
Persistently low levels of inflation and a faltering economic recovery have added to pressure on the bank to step up measures to spur growth. The bank was expected to stop short of announcing quantitative easing measures but could extend its program of asset purchases.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was steady close to five-and-a-half year highs at 89.03.