Decision Against Further Easing has BlackRock Selling Pound

BlackRock Inc. said it sold the pound after the Bank of England left its asset-purchase program unchanged today because the company questions Britain’s leaders’ ability to guide the nation out of an economic slump.

“We sold sterling to express our view, given our already underweight position in gilt,” Scott Thiel, the head of global fundamental fixed-income at the world’s biggest money manager, said in e-mailed comments. BlackRock is “cautious” on the U.K. because of “consistently above-target inflation, the coalition government struggling to maintain a cohesive message” and London’s waning dominance as an international business center.

Pacific Investment Management Co. also holds fewere pounds than its benchmarks recommend, Thomas Kressin, head of European foreign-exchange, said in a Feb. 25 interview. FX Concepts LLC shares Pimco’s view that the pound is still overvalued even after its 6.1 percent decline this year and is poised to fall further.

Bloomberg

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