Publications
Partners
London - The pound dropped from a 10-month high versus the dollar as UK inflation unexpectedly slowed in June, reducing the chances of an imminent interest-rate increase by the Bank of England (BoE).
The yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds dropped to the lowest level since June.
Sterling weakened versus all of its 16 major peers after annual consumer-price inflation slid to 2.6% last month, below the 2.9% forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey and the four-year high reached in May.
The UK currency climbed earlier to its highest level against the dollar since September after the stalling of US President Donald Trump’s health reform cast doubt on any future deregulation and tax measures.
The slowdown in inflation will support the arguments of the members of Monetary Policy Committee who contend that the UK economy is weakening while the pick-up in inflation may only be temporary. In the money markets, traders don’t expect a 25-basis-point rate hike until August next year at the earliest, with the chances of a hike this year below 50%.
“The Bank of England is the winner of the day,”’ said Jordan Rochester, a foreign-exchange strategist at Nomura International in London. “We could break below $1.30 again, just because those guys who put their short-term longs on might re-position.”
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE UPDATE: Get Fin24's top morning business news and opinions in your inbox.
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24’s top stories
