Sterling jumped more than a cent to its highest level in over a month against the dollar on Monday, rallying on data that showed British raw material costs increased at their fastest annual rate in over 20 years in July. Analysts said the strong inflation data could signal that the cost of borrowing in Britain may not be lowered again this year after the Bank of England cut rates for the first time in 2 years on Thursday.
"The market is moving towards the mindset that last week's rate cut will be the last at least for the next 3 to 6 months," said Adarsh Sinha, FX strategist at Barclays.
The Office for National Statistics said producer input prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent last month, against analysts' expectations for a rise of 1.5 percent on the month.
By 1330 GMT, sterling had risen as high as $1.7903, its highest level since July 1 and up over half a percent from the US close.
The pound rose sharply from around $1.7780 before the data was released, piercing through key chart levels at $1.78 and $1.7850.
Against the euro, the pound stood at 69.18 pence, up 0.4 percent on the day.
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