Sterling rises after hawkish BoE minutes

Sterling jumped around half a US cent to trade at $1.6275, its highest since 3 February, after the Bank revealed a 6-3 split of members in favour of raising interest rates. Spencer Dale, the Bank's chief economist, became the third MPC member to vote for a rate increase of 25 basis points, along with Martin Weale. Meanwhile, super-hawk Andrew Sentance called for a 0.5% rise. Less than an hour later, sterling traded back at levels seen ahead of the minutes, up 0.5% to $1.6217. Sterling was up 0.2% to £0.8444 against the euro and stood 0.6% higher at Y134.18. The FTSE 100 index...