Pound Falls Slightly, Focus on April 30th BoE Meeting
The pound weakened slightly to around US$1.356 on Thursday (April 16th) as markets reduced bets on a Bank of England interest rate hike, amid optimism that the Middle East conflict is nearing an end. Several policymakers signaled they were in no rush to tighten, with Governor Andrew Bailey saying it was too early to assess the impact of the war and emphasizing that the duration of the “energy shock” would determine the direction of inflation. Megan Greene also said the market was right to reduce expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes.
Although the prospect of war is expected to pressure the UK economy through higher borrowing costs and inflation, weakening growth ahead of the April 30th policy meeting, recent data suggests pre-war momentum is strong, with February GDP rising 0.5%. Sterling remains near an eight-week high and has risen around 2.6% throughout April on hopes of a peace deal. (Arl)
Source: Newsmaker.id
