Investing.com - Minutes from the Bank of England's most recent policy meeting released Thursday showed that the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to keep rates on hold.
The minutes show eight members were in favor of leaving the key interest rate at a record low of 0.5%, compared to expectations for a 7-2 vote to keep rates on hold. All nine members voted to stand pat on rates in July.
Dissenting member Ian McCafferty voted for a 0.25% hike in the benchmark rate to 0.75% for the first time in eight months.
All nine members were in favor of making no changes to the central bank's £375 billion asset-purchase program.
According to the minutes, a number of policymakers saw upside risks to their inflation forecast.
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%.