LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - The pound was set for its biggest weekly rise in six months on Friday after days of economic data and central bank rate decisions, and ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy meeting next week.
It was up 1.72% since Monday, the biggest weekly increase since early December.
"Tuesday's labour market data led Bank rate expectations to spend much of that evening flirting with a terminal (peak) rate closer to 6%," said Nicholas Rees, FX market analyst at Monex Europe.
Reuters GraphicsHe said U.S. economic data released on Thursday, which showed weekly jobless claims were higher than expected last week, also helped boost sterling by weighing on the dollar.
Sterling rose to its highest level against the yen in eight years following the BoJ's announcement, at 180.83 yen to the pound.
Persons:
Nicholas Rees, Rees, Sterling, BoE, they're, Ben Laidler, Farouq Suleiman, Harry Robertson, Angus MacSwan
Organizations:
Bank, Analysts, Bank of England, FX, Monex, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, ECB, U.S . Federal, Nationwide Building Society, Thomson
Locations:
Monex Europe, lockstep, Britain