Forex - Pound eases against dollar before BoE decision

The pound eased back from four-and-a-half year highs against the dollar on Thursday as investors looked ahead to the Bank of England’s monetary policy announcement later in the day. Forex - Pound eases against dollar before BoE decisionPound slips lower against dollar before

BoE announcment GBP/USD was last down 0.13% to 1.6770, after rising to highs of 1.6820 earlier, the strongest level since November 2009. Cable was likely to find support at 1.6723, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 1.6820. The BoE was widely expected to keep interest rates on hold at record lows of 0.5%, where they have been since March 2009, and to keep its asset purchase program on hold at £375 billion. The dollar remained under pressure after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting indicated that rates are likely to remain on hold for some time. The Fed’s March meeting minutes released on Wednesday showed that policymakers discussed whether to keep interest rates at record lows until inflation moves higher, and did not elaborate on a possible timeframe for when rates could start to rise. The minutes also indicated growing concerns among officials over persistently low inflation. Last month the U.S. central bank reduced the monthly pace of purchases by $10 billion, to $55 billion, and repeated it is likely to continue paring the program in “further measured steps.” Elsewhere, sterling was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.13% to 0.8259. In the euro zone, Greece made a successful return to the financial markets on Thursday, raising approximately €3 billion in its first bond sale in four years.