Sterling was little changed against the dollar as Scotland prepares to vote tomorrow on whether to leave the U.K. Minutes from the August MPC meeting showed members Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty voted to increase borrowing costs, marking the first split on interest rates in more than three years and also the first under Governor Mark Carney. The BOE left its official Bank Rate (UKBRBASE) at a record-low 0.5 percent this month, a level unchanged since March 2009.
The pound gained 0.1 percent to 79.53 pence per euro as of 7:03 a.m. London time. It appreciated 0.1 percent against the common currency yesterday. Sterling was at $1.6278, after advancing 0.3 percent to $1.6277 yesterday.
The U.K. jobless rate, as measured by International Labour Organization methods, fell to 6.3 percent in the three months through July, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey before the Office for National Statistics releases the data at 9:30 a.m. in London. That compares with a reading of 6.4 percent in the period ended June, which was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2008.
Sterling strengthened 0.4 percent in the past month, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro dropped 0.7 percent, while the dollar gained 3.2 percent.
U.K. government bonds returned 6.5 percent this year through yesterday, Bloomberg World Bond Indexes show. German securities also gained 6.5 percent and U.S. Treasuries earned 3.3 percent.
Source: bloomberg.com
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