The pound dropped against the dollar, approaching a two-week low, before the Bank of England announces its monetary policy decision today. Sterling fell to its weakest level versus the euro in more than a week before an industry report that economists said will show U.K. services output expanded for a third month in March. Central-bank policy makers will maintain their asset-purchase target at 375 billion pounds ($566 billion), according to 34 of 37 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. They will keep the main interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent, according to all 50 analysts in a separate survey. The pound dropped 0.3 percent to $1.5089 as of 7:47 a.m. London time after falling to $1.5076 yesterday, the lowest since March 20. Sterling depreciated 0.1 percent to 84.99 pence per euro, after reaching 85.07 pence, the weakest since March 25. A gauge of U.K. services output based on a survey of purchasing managers was 51.5 last month from 51.8 in February, Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply will say today, according to the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The pound has declined 5.1 percent this year, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes that track 10 developed- nation currencies. The dollar gained 3.2 percent and the euro was little changed. Gilts returned 0.9 percent this year through yesterday, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German bunds gained 0.4 percent, while Treasuries earned 0.1 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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