BoE maintains interest rates at 0.5%; Two members vote for hike

Market anticipates a May hike

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to hold interest rates at their current level of 0.5%, although two members voted to hike rates by 25bps.

The dissent from two members, Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders, to vote for a hike is in contrast to the February meeting, at which all nine members voted unanimously to hold rates. In the aftermath of the bank's announcement, sterling climbed 0.01% against the dollar, while the FTSE 100 continued its decline, falling 1.32% since the market opened today. Inflation falling to 2.7%, announced by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday (20 March), relieved some pressure on the BoE to boost rates, but it is still anticipated it will opt for a hike in its 10 May meeting. 'Pictu...