KGF Kingfisher Plc

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

The British pound came under pressure Wednesday as inflation data grew softer than forecast in August.

U.K. consumer prices slowed to 1.7% year-over-year growth in August from 2.1% in July, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. Economists polled by FactSet expected a 1.9% rise. Core CPI slowed to 1.5% from 1.9%.

That sent the pound lower vs. the dollar and the euro .

Andreas Steno Larsen, global currency and fixed income strategist at Nordea Markets, said the Bank of England nonetheless can't take action because the possibility of a hard Brexit which could send prices spiking after Oct. 31.

(https://twitter.com/AndreasSteno/status/1174241566250196994)

The Bank of England meets to decide on interest rates on Thursday, with expectations of no change.

The U.K. FTSE 100 meanwhile increased 0.3% to 7342.16.

Action was muted as traders waited for the key U.S. interest-rate decision, due at 2 p.m. Eastern , which is after the close of U.K. trading.

B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher (KGF.LN) was active, losing over 1%, as the home improvement retailer reported a 6% drop in first-half underlying profit and said it would be taking an additional cost to clearing inventory.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2019 05:19 ET (09:19 GMT)

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