Pound Slides After BOE Hold Rates Unexpectedly

(RTTNews) - The British pound weakened against other major currencies in the late European session on Thursday, after the Bank of England kept its benchmark rate unchanged unexpectedly, thus having a pause in the rate hike cycle that saw interest rates being raised in 14 consecutive sessions.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the BoE headed by Andrew Bailey voted 5-4 to maintain the bank rate at 5.25 percent. Markets widely expected a quarter point increase.

"Monetary policy would need to be sufficiently restrictive for sufficiently long to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term," the bank said.'

The European shares also fell due to interest-rate concerns.

In the late European trading now, the pound fell to more than a 1-month low of 0.8692 against the euro, nearly a 6-month low of 1.2243 against the U.S. dollar and a 1-1/2-month low of 180.83 against the yen, from early highs of 0.8627, 1.2332 and 182.95, respectively. If the pound extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.88 against the euro, 1.20 against the greenback and 175.00 against the yen.

Moving away from an early 1-week high of 1.1168 against the Swiss franc, the pound edged down to 1.1090. The pound may test support near the 1.09 region.

The Swiss National Bank unexpectedly left its benchmark rate unchanged, as policymakers assessed that the significant tightening of policy over the past five consecutive meetings is countering inflationary pressure, though the bank left the door open for future hikes.

The SNB Governing Board, chaired by Thomas Jordan, decided to hold the policy rate at 1.75 percent, while markets expected a final quarter-point hike.

Looking ahead, Canada new housing price index for August, U.S. weekly jobless claims, current account data for the second quarter, U.S. Consumer Board's leading index for August and U.S. existing home sales data for August are slated for release soon.