The pound strengthened for a second day against the dollar after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. will continue to need stimulus, damping demand for the American currency. Sterling rose yesterday on speculation a selloff in the past week was overdone before the Bank of England publishes minutes of this month’s meeting next week. “Highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what’s needed in the U.S. economy,� Bernanke said yesterday. The U.K. Debt Management Office is scheduled to sell 2.5 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) of gilts maturing in 2044 today. The pound rose 0.7 percent to $1.5112 at 7:40 a.m. London time after climbing 1 percent yesterday. It dropped to $1.4814 on July 9, the lowest level since June 23, 2010. The U.K. currency was little changed at 86.56 pence per euro. Sterling has weakened 0.8 percent in the past week, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, which track 10 developed-nation currencies. The dollar fell 1.1 percent, while the euro gained 0.4 percent. The U.K. last sold 30-year securities on May 16 at an average yield of 3.293 percent. Gilts dropped 3.3 percent this year through yesterday, according to Bloomberg World Bond Indexes. German bonds declined 1.3 percent and Treasuries fell 3.6 percent, the indexes show. To contact the reporters on this story: Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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