Sterling falls to seven-month low before BoE meeting

LONDON: The pound sank to a seven-month low on Thursday before a Bank of England monetary policy meeting where officials could indicate if interest rates will be raised this year despite a weak spell for the economy. No economists polled expect the BoE to raise rates and some are getting cold feet about their forecasts for a rate rise in August, which would be only the second increase by the central bank since the 2008 financial crisis. Market expectations are for a less than 40 per cent likelihood of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raising interest rates by August, with about an 80 per cent chance of one more rate hike by the end of 2018. — Reuters