Investing.com - The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in August and announced no change to its asset purchase facility program, it said on Thursday.
The BOE said it was holding the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move. The rate has been held at that level since March 2009.
The central bank also said it was to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
BOE Governor Mark Carney will hold a press conference after the release, at 12:45PM in London.Last month, Carney stated the time for tighter monetary policy was approaching. Most market players expect the BOE to begin slowly raising interest rates in mid-2016.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5542 from around 1.5584 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7027 from 0.6997 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mixed. London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.35%, the EURO STOXX 50 inched up 0.1%, France's CAC 40 added 0.1%, while Germany's DAX tacked on 0.1%.