Sterling arrested its recent decline as the Bank of England published the minutes from September's monetary policy meeting which brought to an end the recent sell-off of the pound, allowing sterling to end the day higher against both the US dollar and euro. News overnight, however, was less positive as the US Federal Reserve concluded its own two-day policy meeting. As expected, the Fed also opted to keep interest rates on hold and acknowledged that growth in the world's largest economy is accelerating.

Sterling

The pound rose against both the euro and the US dollar after the minutes for September's monetary policy meeting showed that there was a unanimous vote at the last policy meeting to suspend increases in the bank's asset-purchase plan. As a result, the sterling pared some of its recent losses.

US dollar

Mixed messages from the US Federal Reserve sent the US dollar higher across the board as investors were tempted back into safe-haven dollar buying. On the plus side, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said that he was confident that the US had come out of recession and that economic activity was picking up. On the down side, however, Bernanke then said that rates would be held at their current level of 0-0.25 per cent for an extended time; causing investors to fret about the strength of the recovery.

Euro

The euro lost ground against both the US dollar and sterling even though data in the zone continues to point to an economy in recovery. In spite of the good news the single currency was unable to make any further headway against the major currencies as investors focused instead on the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve.

Japanese yen

The yen traded close to a one-week high against the US dollar amid speculation Japanese companies have returned from a three-day holiday to repatriate funds before the end of the fiscal first half.