The U.K. pound fell against the euro and the dollar after the Bank of England said it will spend an additional 50 billion pounds ($75 billion) of newly printed money as it seeks to revive the recession-mired economy. Gilts pared losses that earlier pushed the 10-year bond yield to the highest level in almost three months. The Bank of England said it will increase its asset purchase program to 125 billion pounds. Policy makers also kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent, the bank said today in London. “The Bank of England’s move today was a surprise for sterling,” said Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist in London at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. The pound fell as much as 0.6 percent to 88.64 pence per euro and was at 88.50 pence by 1:15 p.m. in London, from 88.09 pence yesterday. It slipped 0.2 percent to $1.5102 after earlier climbing to $1.5197, the strongest in four months. Losses by the pound may present “a buying opportunity” and the currency may rise to as high as $1.55 in the next month, Derrick said. The 10-year bond yield was at 3.70 percent, after earlier rising as much as 16 basis points to 3.76 percent, the highest level since Feb. 11. The 4.5 percent security due in March 2019 slipped 0.87, or 8.7 pounds per 1,000-pound face amount, to 106.51. The two-year yield climbed five basis points to 1.20 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices. “It’s pretty good that they came out with a number for further purchases,” said Jason Simpson, a U.K. interest-rate strategist in London at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “The downside could be that there is a hint 50 billion will be it, but the fact that they came up with a number gives the market some certainty.” The pound gained 1.5 percent versus the dollar in the week following the Bank of England’s meeting on April 9, when it kept interest rates on hold and maintained its so-called quantitative strategy. It rose 1.6 percent versus the euro in that period.

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