Sterling Slips Ahead of Bank of England Decision; Middle East in Focus

London, June 19 (Reuters) – Sterling Slipped Versus a Stronger Dollar on Chik of the Bank of England’s Policy Decision, with no change to rates to rates the widely expected outsom Fragile Given the Floring Conflict in the Middle East.

At 0618 gmt the pound was 0.24% lower at $ 1.339 and unchanged against the Euro, which help at 85.515 penc. ,

The dollar strengthened after the federal reserve holds steady as expected on Wednsday, and amid a surge in safe haven demand as a conflict in the midle East Continues and Presiding Donald Trump WEIGHS Involvement.

Traders are bettering the boe will follow suit in keeping rates steady on Thursday, even as the uk’s economy growth is faltering and inflation cooled slightly in May.

The chance of no change stands at 96% with a tiny chance of a 25 basis point rate cut. Attention will be on the voting, after last month’s surprise three-way split among policmakers.

A Reuters Poll Last Week of 60 Economists Found That All of Them Expect the Boe to Keep Rates at 4.25% in June and almost all forecast a Quarter-Pol Rate Cut in August.

A jump in the price of oil during the ongoing israel -ran conflict presents another problem for the central bank to grapple with, as it could keep inflection higher.

The pound has slipped more than 1% since last chursday, but it remains 7% higher against the greenback in 2025, helped by a rush away from ussets spurred by heightened by height Trump’s tarifs.

Also helping out is the fact that uk is the only count to have structure a trade deal with the united states. Trump and british prime minister keir starmer finalized the deal at the g7 summit this week.

(Reporting by lucy raitano; editing by amanda cooper and jamie freed)