Sterling hit a one-week high against the dollar and inched higher versus the euro after minutes of the Bank of England's November meeting showed a unanimous vote to keep interest rates steady, as expected.
All nine members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep rates at 4.5 percent this month. They also had no discussion on moving borrowing costs in either direction.
Shortly before the minutes were published, sterling also drew strength from comments by MPC member David Walton who said UK interest rates should remain steady for now, given that inflation remains above the BoE's 2.0 percent target.
"There was a risk that we could have seen something more dovish in the minutes, but it was unanimous in line with expectations," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange research at Calyon.
Sterling had hit a one-week high of $1.7260 before trimming gains to $1.7210 by 1545 GMT, steady on the day.
Against the euro the pound was up around 0.1 percent on the day at 68.43 pence. Trading was choppy ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
The minutes and Walton's comments both reinforced expectations domestic interest rates are unlikely to fall for now - thereby giving sterling some yield support at a time when borrowing costs in the United States and the eurozone are expected to rise.
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