Sterling rallied on Wednesday after Bank of England minutes showed two votes against easing policy this month, but gains proved short-lived as the news did not change expectations of another rate cut in June.
In its first three-way split in two years, the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee had six votes for this month's 25 basis point cut to 5 percent, one vote for a bigger 50 basis point move and two votes for unchanged rates.
Analysts had expected that the 25 basis point easing was a unanimous decision, so the two on-hold votes dampened minority expectations for another move as soon as May. But bets for a move in June remained intact, and sterling quickly eased from the session highs versus the euro and the dollar, which were set immediately after the minutes.
By 1405 GMT, the euro was steady at 80.22 pence, above post-minutes session lows of 79.95 pence but below last week's record high of 80.98 pence. The pound fell 0.8 percent against a broadly firm dollar to $1.9915 from a session high of $1.9973, echoing the US currency's rally from a record low beyond $1.60 versus the euro.
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