LONDON—The pound advanced against the euro and the dollar Wednesday after the Bank of England appeared to rule out further easing in minutes from its latest rate-setting meeting.
In early New York trade, the pound was at $1.5980 from $1.5924 late Tuesday, while the euro fetched £0.8183 compared with £0.8243. The common currency was also at $1.3081, slipping from $1.3126 late Tuesday.
The dollar rose to ¥81.32 from ¥80.84, while the euro was at ¥106.37 from ¥106.04. The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, was at 79.81 compared to 79.559.
Sterling shot to a 19-month high against the euro, which sank as low as £0.8185, down 0.7% from the day's high. The pound also leapt 0.6% against the dollar to trade at almost $1.60. For its part, the euro shed some 0.2% against the dollar and traded at $1.3082 immediately after the BOE released minutes of this month's meeting of its nine-strong policy committee.
Rate-setter Adam Posen was shown to have dropped his previous call for further monetary easing, leaving just one dissenter voting for an extra £25 billion ($39.81 billion) in asset purchases.
"It would now take a pretty significant shock for the MPC to vote in favor of further asset purchases, so this has lifted a burden for the pound in a big way," said Peter Kinsella, a currency strategist at Commerzbank in London.
The Swedish central bank, meanwhile, left its key rate at 1.5%, defying some expectations for a cut. The Swedish krona strengthened 0.6% against its Norwegian peer, with Norway's krone trading as low as 1.174 Swedish kronor.
