Bank of England hold rates steady

The Bank of England (BoE) has opted to keep UK interest rates at 0.5 per cent, with members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting seven-to-two against a rise. Disappointing economic data for the first quarter of 2018 is ensuring the MPC holds off on the first of the remaining hikes expected up to 2021. Despite the decision to hold and deteriorating economic assessment from the Office for National Statistics, the BoE cited bad weather as the main culprit for poor performance. Their projections for inflation were also lower than in February, and taken with the decision to hold, expectations that the BoE will hike as planned are weakening. After the announcement, sterling took a turn downwards against major currencies, falling around 0.7 per cent against the US dollar, whilst UK government debt was bought. The FTSE 100 received a boost from the falling currency and rose to around 0.2 per cent gain for the day, with the wider FTSE All Share also seeing a modest gain.