The pound has gained against sterling as the British currency fell yesterday following the Bank of England's failure to raise interest rates, writes Jane Suiter

Sterling fell by over two pfennigs against the deutschmark yesterday and, as a result, the pound closed at 84.79p from 84.34p a day earlier.

According to Mr Kevin Daly, treasury economist at Ulster Bank, sterling is likely to remain weaker over the coming days and may move lower unless economic figures to be released next week are particularly strong.

Next week is a bumper week for British data with figures on average earnings, inflation, producer and retail prices as well as the public sector borrowing requirement all due. Mr Daly added that he expected sterling to fall back towards DM2.90.