£/€ The pound resumed its upward trend against the euro yesterday, climbing a further half cent to close back above 1.15

• Sterling found support following comments on inflation from a Bank of England policymaker who spurred speculation that the central bank may end quantitative easing next week.
  
  
• Andrew Sentance said that it could be hard to maintain the target inflation rate if import and export prices keep rising.
  
  
• The market took the comments to suggest an imminent end to the BoE's £200 billion asset-buying plan, but analysts said they did little to change the view that interest rate rises will not follow until the second half of the year at the earliest.
  
  
• Traders brushed off a weak reading of UK retail sales earlier in the day, while UK corporate demand also helped the pound to recovery from losses incurred after the weaker-than-expected growth figure.
  
  
• In trading this morning, sterling has reached a five-month high at 1.1593, already up nearly 0.5% for the day.