The pound showed mixed trading in early London deals Thursday ahead of the Bank of England governor designate Mark Joseph Carney's testimony to parliament's cross party Treasury Committee. While the pound edged higher against the yen, it held steady against the dollar and drifted weaker against the euro and the Swiss franc.
Traders will also focus on the Bank of England rate decision due later in the session. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates unchanged at 0.50 percent and asset purchase program at GBP 375 billion.
Elsewhere, the European Central Bank is expected to hold the benchmark interest rate and the market participants focus on ECB president Mario Draghi's press conference later. ECB President Mario Draghi is unlikely to announce any further stimulus measures, although he is widely expected to embark on verbal intervention to halt a further appreciation of the euro.
As of 4:35 am ET, the pound was trading at 147.21 against the yen and this was up from Asian session low of 146.04. Meanwhile, the sterling drifted lower to 0.8665 against the euro and 1.4209 against the Swiss franc ahead of the testimony. The pound-dollar pair held steady at 1.5675 around 4:40 am ET.
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