Pound slides as BOE cuts rate for first time since 2009

London

THE pound fell the most in four weeks after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since March 2009, part of a suite of stimulus measures to help boost the economy after the UK's vote to leave the European Union in June.

Sterling dropped at least 0.9 per cent against all of its 16 major peers after the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to lower the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a record-low 0.25 per cent. Officials led by governor Mark Carney increased the central bank's asset-purchase target for the first time in four years, raising the target by £60 billion (S$106 billion) to £435 billion.