Pound Falls Following BoE Rate Cut

(RTTNews) - The British pound weakened against other major currencies in the European session on Friday, after the Bank of England cut interest rates as expected but signaled stickier inflation.

Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee decided to lower the rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent. The outcome of the two-day meeting matched expectations.

Previously, the bank had reduced the policy rate by a quarter-point in August, which was the first reduction since March 2020.

At the November meeting, eight members voted for a 25-bps cut, while Catherine Mann alone voted to maintain the rate at 5.00 percent.

Monetary policy will need to continue to remain restrictive for sufficiently long until the risks to inflation returning sustainably to the 2% target in the medium term have dissipated further," the bank said in a statement.

Governor Andrew Bailey underlined the importance of exercising caution when making cutbacks in the future in order to maintain inflation near the 2% objective.

The Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee in its monetary policy review on Thursday unanimously decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage point to 4.5 to 4.75 percent. The FOMC, that seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run reiterated that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals were roughly in balance.

Investors await details of China's forthcoming stimulus at the conclusion of a week-long session of China's top legislative body, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, later in the day.

Possible measures may include support for local government debt and consumer spending.

In the European trading, the pound fell to a 3-day low of 197.19 against the yen, from an early high of 198.83. On the downside 195.00 is seen as the next support level for the pound.

Against the Swiss franc, the U.S. dollar and the euro, the pound edged down to 1.1288, 1.2936 and 0.8325 from early highs of 1.1334, 1.2983 and 0.8308, respectively. If the pound extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.11 against the franc, 1.27 against the greenback and 0.84 against the euro.

Looking ahead, Canada jobs data for October, U.S. University of Michigan's consumer sentiment data for November and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are slated for release in the New York session.