Sterling held steady near its highest level in more than a week against the dollar on Tuesday, helped by optimism Greece would be given more funding while investors awaited Bank of England minutes. Eurozone finance ministers are expected to give tentative approval for the next tranche of loans to Greece later on Tuesday, which analysts said should give a boost to the euro and riskier currencies, including sterling.
The pound was steady at $1.5915, having earlier risen as high as $1.5936, its highest since November 9. This took it well above last week's two-month low of $1.5828, with chart support cited at the 100-day moving average at $1.5884.
"It seems as though there's a bit of optimism going into the euro zone negotiations on Greece. This could give the risk-on signal that the market is looking for," said Nawaz Ali, analyst at Western Union Business Solutions. The euro edged lower against the pound, trading down 0.1 percent at 80.44 pence and stuck below last week's high of 80.65 pence and the 200-day moving average of 80.77 pence. Against a broadly weaker Japanese yen, the pound rose to a six-and-a-half month high of 130.17 yen on expectations that the Bank of Japan may soon embark on more aggressive policy action.