Pound strong as MPC unanimously votes not to up QE

Sterling has held its ground in forex trading following the release of the MPC’s October meeting minutes.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

The pound was stronger in forex trading this morning (October 17th) following news the Bank of England's (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously not to increase stimulus.

According to the minutes for the MPC's October meeting, all nine members of the group elected to keep quantitative easing (QE) at £375 billion after raising this amount by £50 billion in July of this year.

Many economists believe the BoE will up its QE programme before the end of December, as the current purchases will be completed by the end of October.

Indeed, the minutes state there were differences in opinion between members as to the outlook of the British economy and whether or not further QE would be necessary.

The MPC also unanimously voted to keep interest rates at their record low of 0.5 per cent.

At 10:40 BST, the pound advanced versus the dollar by 0.2 per cent to £1 buying $1.615, while it lost 0.1 per cent against the euro to €1.232.

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