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London - The pound weakened against the euro before the Bank of England (BoE) announces a policy decision, along with minutes of the meeting that investors will scour for clues on how soon the institution will raise interest rates.
With markets showing the BOE won’t boost its benchmark until at least late 2016, all 41 economists in a Bloomberg survey predict officials will maintain it at 0.5% on Thursday.
The minutes, released with the decision at noon in London, will show how the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted, and will also be scrutinized for any change in language describing the global economic environment.
The pound weakened 0.2% to 73.51 pence per euro as of 08:25 on Thursday, extending its decline in the past month to 1%. Sterling was little changed at $1.5313.
The UK currency has declined against all except one of its 16 major peers in the past month as the Federal Reserve’s decision to delay raising rates and signs global growth is slowing prompted investors to push back their view of the BOE’s own rate path.
A UK report this week showed services grew at the slowest pace in more than two years in September, signaling the domestic economy is slowing and supporting the case for keeping rates at a record low.
The BOE has kept its official bank rate at 0.5% since March 2009 to encourage growth. Central bank governor Mark Carney has signaled the timing of an interest-rate increase will become clearer at the turn of the year.
