THE pound has notched up its third consecutive week of gains against the dollar - its best run against the US currency since June last year.
Sterling was, at 5pm in London yesterday, trading around $1.5393, after hitting a five-week high of $1.5490 in early Asian trading. The pound's closing level in London was up from $1.5246 a week earlier.
The pound was, at 5pm, also up slightly from its level of $1.5381 on Thursday evening.
Sterling meanwhile remained within sight of seven-year highs against the euro, which had been notched up on Thursday.
The single currency was trading around 74.15p at 5pm in London yesterday, down slightly from 74.21p at the close on Thursday.
Sterling has been supported in the last two sessions by the Bank of England's latest quarterly inflation report, which was published on Thursday. The report pushed the pound to a seven-year high against the euro, with the single currency dropping as far as 73.715p during Thursday's session.
The forecasts in the inflation report were taken as a signal that financial markets have been right to bring forward their expectations of the timing of the first rise in UK base rates from their record low of 0.5 per cent to February next year.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney appeared upbeat about the prospects for the UK economy as he presented the latest inflation report.
The Bank now expects UK economic growth of 2.9 per cent both this year and in 2016. It had previously projected 2016 expansion of 2.6 per cent. The 2015 forecast is unchanged from November, in spite of the recent slowdown in UK economic growth.
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