Sterling gave up ground to the dollar but steered a steady course against the euro on Monday as dealers awaited minutes from the Bank of England's latest policy meeting for clues on the future path of interest rates.
Minutes on Wednesday will reveal what prompted Britain's central bank to raise rates for a second consecutive month on June 10 and indicate how aggressively rates may rise in the coming months.
"There is not much sterling-specific news today but if the Bank of England minutes are hawkish, we could see sterling push higher later in the week," said Mitul Kotecha, head of foreign exchange research at Calyon.
In late London trade, the pound was virtually unchanged against the euro at 66.05 pence but it was down nearly half a percent against the dollar at $1.8298. The US currency staged a recovery against all European currencies after falling heavily on Friday. The prospect of further aggressive interest rate hikes lifted the pound to its highest on a trade-weighted basis last week since October 2002.