GBP weakens against Euro following BOE meeting

The minutes of April’s Bank of England meeting showed most members voted against tightening monetary policy, causing the pound to fall against the euro.

Reacting to data from last month that indicate a weaker economy, BOE policy makers voted 6-3 to keep the benchmark rate at a record low 0.5 percent. Short-sterling futures rose as investors pared bets on an increase in interest rates.

“Markets should be a little surprised to find no further members voted for an increase in rates,” said Neil Jones, head of European hedge fund sales in London at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. “The pound is being sold as a reflex action by disappointed bulls.”

The pound depreciated 0.7 percent to 88.63 pence per euro at 4:30 p.m. in London, and earlier lost 1 percent, its biggest intraday drop since March 24. Against the dollar, sterling gained 0.5 percent to $1.6376. It slipped 0.4 percent in a basket of 10 developed-market currencies.

Source:  Bloomberg

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza