LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – The pound and gilt yields fell on Thursday, while Britain’s blue-chip stock index hit a record after the Bank of England took another step towards lowering interest rates, as a second official backed a rate cut.
Sterling fell as much as 0.4% against the dollar to $1.2446 , a two-week low. It was last at $1.2471.
The pound was at 86.04 pence per euro , down 0.1%.
The BoE said on Thursday its Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to keep rates at a 16-year high of 5.25% after Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden joined Swati Dhingra in voting for a cut to 5%.
Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected another 8-1 split to keep rates on hold.
“We believe the BoE is setting the stage for a summer rate cut,” said Hussain Mehdi, director, investment strategy at HSBC Asset Management.
Money market traders still see around a 45% chance of a rate cut from the Bank of England at next month’s policy meeting, while around 55…
