LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) – The pound was trading lower against the dollar ahead of the Bank of England (BoE) policy meeting, while hawkish comments from some members of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) helped curb the fall of the yen.
At around 10.50am the pound lost 0.2% to 1.2474 dollars, after having reached a three-week high of 1.2709 dollars last week. The Bank of England is expected to keep rates steady but will signal when it plans to lower them as inflation falls.
Markets now see a 55% chance of a BoE cut in June, when the European Central Bank has signaled it will cut rates, and a 72% chance of a BoE rate cut in August.
The yen fell 0.2% to $155.82, with the Japanese currency briefly finding support in the BoJ’s summary of views published today, which said board members expressed ‘hawkish’ views during the meeting of April and many have called for a steady increase in interest rates.
The dollar index advanced 0.13% to 105.688, after hitting a one-week high.
(Translated by Laura Contemori, editing Antonella Cinelli)
