Sterling climbs as Bank turns hawkish Sterling remained centre stage on Wednesday morning as it surged higher against all of its major trading partners in response to Bank of England minutes which indicated there was less desire for further stimulus. The pound pushed up to a 19-month high against the euro, gaining 0.7 per cent to £0.8191 and more than 1 per cent against the yen to Y130.13. Against the dollar, sterling edged up 0.3 per cent to $1.5975. The UK currency had slipped ahead of the release of the minutes from the Bank of England's last policy meeting. Some market watchers had geared up for a continuation of previous dovish sentiment. However, the Bank's minutes revealed a decreasing chance of further stimulus measures being applied in May when the current round of asset purchases will come to an end. The usually dovish Adam Posen was shown to be no longer in favour of an increase in the asset purchase programme, leaving David Miles as the only member of the Monetary Policy Committee voting for an immediate £25bn increase. The MPC also saw a greater chance of inflation persisting in the medium term. Stickier-than-expected consumer price data released on Wednesday, which had also helped sterling, added weight to that view. The euro dropped 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.3079 as the dollar index ticked up 0.4 per cent to 79.28. The discrepancy between the two currencies is a clear indication of the ongoing divergent sentiments on both sides of the Atlantic. The euro was probably not helped by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's comments on French TV that a strong euro was hurting French exporters. "These are debates that we should have with the governor of the European Central Bank," said Mr Sarkozy. The Japanese yen also suffered as increasing global risk appetite met strengthening expectations of further easing from the Bank of Japan. The yen fell 0.7 per cent against the dollar to Y81.44 and lost 0.3 per cent against the euro to Y106.51. BoJ deputy governor Kiyohiko Nishimura said on Wednesday that the bank was "committed to implementing additional easing measures, if deemed necessary." "It is vital to make efforts both to firmly support the recently observed upward momentum toward economic recovery and to strengthen growth potential," he added. The BoJ is due to meet on April 27 and analysts believe it will step in again to devalue the yen in pursuit of growth and inflation. Last February, the BoJ shocked markets when it expanded its asset-purchasing programme to Y65tn from Y55tn and set an inflation target of 1 per cent. The yen fell more than 8 per cent by Mid-march in response. Elsewhere, the Swedish krona traded up a further 0.4 per cent against the euro to SKr8.8525 and was flat against the dollar at SKr6.7665 after the Riksbank left its official interest rates on hold at 1.5 per cent. The decision was widely expected. However, Ben May, European economist with Capital Economics, said he expected more cuts to come as the adverse effects of the eurozone debt crisis took their toll on the Swedish economy.