LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling rose to the day's high on Monday while British stock markets trimmed gains after outgoing Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale said he was unsure if he would back an interest rate cut at next month's meeting.
That contrasts with most of his colleagues, who think a rate cut is likely, according to BoE minutes, given expectations that the UK could slip into recession in the coming quarters.
Weale, who will step down after next month's meeting, said he did not see any sense of panic among consumers or businesses after Britain's vote to leave the European Union last month, and that the central bank should not be afraid of disappointing markets.
Sterling topped $1.3292 after his comments, up 0.7 percent on the day, having traded at $1.3245 beforehand. The euro fell to the day's low of 83.225 pence (EURGBP=D4), down 0.6 percent on the day.
Britain's FTSE 100 (FTSE) trimmed gains, to trade 0.2 percent higher, having earlier been boosted by a surge in ARM (L:ARM) after Japan's SoftBank agreed to buy the chip designer at a premium of more than 40 percent to Friday's closing price.
Weale's comments came after Andrew Haldane, chief economist at the BoE, said on Friday that the central bank needed to come up with a package of mutually-complementary monetary policy easing measures in time for a rate-setting meeting on Aug. 4