The main currency pairs traded in a fairly thin range as market data failed to significantly boost one particular currency. The main data release was the Bank of England's October meeting minutes, which showed a slight surprise as two of the nine members had voted for an interest rate increase.

GBP
The sterling reached a three-week high against the euro as news from the MPC minutes filtered out that two members of the committee had voted for a rate hike. This has been interpreted as a clear sign that the BoE will raise rates to five per cent in November.

USD
The dollar steadied against the majors as US economic data strengthened the view that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates on hold at 5.25 per cent next month against some analysts' view that there would be an impending cut.

EUR
The euro fell after data from elsewhere pressured the single currency. It took a slightly improved French current account deficit to trigger a recovery, allowing the euro to gain back what it had lost.

JPY
The BoJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui said the economy is expanding in line with expectations and is forecasted to enjoy long-lasting growth. However, Mr Fukui gave no indication as to when the central bank would look to raise interest rates in the future.