Pound Advances as BOE Minutes Show Dissent Among Policy Makers
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The pound strengthened as the Bank of England said two policy makers wanted an interest-rate increase this month, marking the first split on rates in more than three years and the first under Governor Mark Carney.
Sterling gained versus all of its 16 major peers after minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee’s Aug. 6-7 meeting showed Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty voted to raise the benchmark rate by 25 basis points from a record-low 0.5 percent. Eleven of 18 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey had predicted a unanimous vote to keep borrowing costs unchanged. Short-sterling futures contracts fell and U.K. government bonds dropped as investors raised bets that borrowing costs will increase.