Investing.com - The pound held gains against the broadly softer dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England announced no changes to monetary policy, as concerns over Greece’s efforts to renegotiate its bailout program continued to dominate market sentiment.
GBP/USD was up 0.36% to 1.5234 from around 1.5239 ahead of the policy announcement.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee said it was keeping the benchmark interest rate at 0.50% and maintained the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
Investors were looking ahead to the bank’s quarterly inflation report, due to be published next Thursday for further indications on when interest rates could start to rise. Currently markets are expecting the first rate hike in early 2016.
Survey data on the services and manufacturing sectors earlier this week indicated that output growth rebounded last month after slowing at the end of 2014. However, the reports also indicated that inflation pressures remain subdued, reinforcing expectations that rates will remain on hold at record lows for longer.
In other trade, EUR/GBP was up 0.33% to 0.7496.
The euro was higher; following declines in the previous session after the European Central Bank it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral for lending, shifting the burden on to Greece’s central bank provide additional liquidity for its lenders.
The move increased pressure on the new Greek government to reach an agreement with its lenders on the terms of its current €240 billion bailout. Athens is seeking debt relief, which has fuelled fears over a clash with its creditors that could bring about its eventual exit from the euro zone.
Meanwhile, EUR/CHF was up 0.73% to 1.0582, the highest level since the Swiss National Bank scrapped its 1.20 per euro exchange rate cap on January 15. The euro’s gains fuelled speculation that the SNB was intervening in the market to weaken the franc.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.47% to 94.14, pressured lower by strength in the euro.