Investing.com - The pound was little changed at 17-month lows against the broadly stronger dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England left monetary policy unchanged, in a widely anticipated decision.
GBP/USD was at 1.5061, not far from session lows of 1.5034, the weakest level since July 2013.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee voted to hold the benchmark interest rate at 0.50% and left the size of its asset purchase program unchanged at £375 billion.
The decision came after recent surveys of the services, manufacturing and construction sectors indicated that the rate of the economic recovery in the U.K. slowed at the end of the year.
The slowdown in economic activity signaled that the BoE is likely to keep rates on hold for most of 2015.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after a report on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added a larger-then-forecast 241,000 jobs in December. The upbeat data boosted the outlook for the U.S. recovery and raised expectations for a strong reading of the government nonfarm payrolls due on Friday.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting did little to alter expectations that U.S. interest rates will start to rise later this year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.54% to a 12-year high of 92.71.
The U.S. was to release data on initial jobless claims later Thursday.