The pound gained for a second day against the dollar as a Bank of England report said public finances will benefit by a net 17 billion pounds ($25 billion) from transfers from the central bank’s asset-purchases program. Sterling strengthened for a third day versus the euro. The assumption, published in an article in the bank’s Quarterly Bulletin in London today, is based on the benchmark interest rate increasing in line with market forecasts and gilt sales of 25 billion pounds a quarter by the Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility starting in September 2016. The pound rose 0.1 percent to $1.4944 at 7:30 a.m. London time after sliding to $1.4832 on March 13, the weakest level since June 2010. Sterling appreciated 0.1 percent to 86.77 pence per euro. Sterling has weakened 5.9 percent this year, the second- worst performer after the yen among 10 developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The euro rose 1.3 percent and the dollar gained 3.3 percent. U.K. government bonds lost 1.1 percent this year through yesterday, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German bunds dropped 0.7 percent and Treasuries fell 0.9 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net.

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