Sterling close to one-month low on BoE rate cut bets

25 Mar 2024

There was little change for Sterling on Monday, remaining close to a one-month low as investors increased bets last week that the Bank of England (BoE) will slash interest rates in June.

At the time of writing, the Pound was flat at $1.2608, not too far away from Friday's one-month dip of $1.2576, Reuters reports.

Whereas the Euro was little changed against Sterling at 85.79 pence, a fall from the two-month high of 86.02 pence from Friday.

The Pound fell around 1% against the greenback last week as the Bank of England held interest rates at 5.25% on Thursday and governor Andrew Bailey said inflation is on the right track for rate cuts.

Comments by Bailey to the Financial Times on Friday that rate cuts are "in play" this year, sent the Pound lower.

As it stands, traders forecast around a 75% chance the Bank of England will lower rates by June, a rise from around 35% at the beginning of last week, as per money market pricing.

"Sterling is consolidating at slightly lower levels after the Bank of England's dovish bout of communications late last week," stated Chris Turner, head of global markets at ING.

He added that the Bank of England's message indicates the Euro could edge up to 87 pence within the coming month as Sterling dips, the Reuters report adds.

Meanwhile, economic indicators and inflation data in the United States have consistently exceeded expectations, leading investors to scale back their anticipations of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June.

Forecasts that interest rates could stay higher for longer in the US have bolstered the attractiveness of American bonds and provided support for the Dollar.

The Dollar index, measuring the currency against six major rivals, was last flat at the time of writing at 104.38, following last week's 1% gain.