Investors piled into bets on the BoE keeping Bank Rate at 5.25% on Wednesday as soon as official data showed a surprise fall in the pace of price growth.
Other analysts said they still thought a final BoE rate hike was the most likely outcome after a recent jump in global oil prices, but they stressed it could go either way.
"We stick with our call for a hike, but now see this as a coin toss," JP Morgan economist Allan Monks said.
British inflation is almost double the rate in the United States, where the Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept borrowing costs on hold.
Last week, the European Central Bank raised rates to a record high but signalled that it was likely to pause.
Persons:
BoE, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Allan Monks, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, Rishi Sunak, Bailey, Dominic Bunning, William Schomberg, Alex Richardson
Organizations:
Bank of England, Monetary, British, ECB, FX Research, HSBC, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Thomson
Locations:
United States