Investing.com - The pound slipped lower against the dollar and the euro on Thursday after the Bank of England left monetary policy unchanged, as markets awaited the outcome of the European Central Bank’s monthly meeting later in the day.
GBP/USD eased 0.13% to 1.5664 down from around 1.5678 ahead of the policy announcement.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee voted to keep U.K. interest rates on hold at their current record lows of 0.5% and the size of its asset purchasing stimulus program steady at £375 billion.
The minutes of the meeting are to be published on December 17.
The minutes of its November meeting showed that two policymakers voted in favor of 0.25% hike in the benchmark rate for the fourth consecutive meeting.
Sterling was also slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP edging up 0.11% to 0.7856 from 0.7849 earlier.
The euro’s gains were held in check amid heightened expectations for additional stimulus measures from the ECB to help bolster inflation and shore up the faltering economic recovery.
The annual rate of euro area inflation slowed to a five year low of 0.3% in November, down from 0.4% in October and well below the ECB’s 2% target.
The ECB was expected to stop short of announcing quantitative easing measures but could extend its program of asset purchases.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was little changed close to five-and-a-half year highs at 89.04.