Ammon News - Sterling gained against the dollar on Thursday after a survey showed that British businesses are having their best month in a year due to a rebound in the services sector, while investors also kept their focus on the Fed's Jackson Hole symposium.

Sterling rose 0.2% against the dollar to $1.3483 and was marginally higher on the euro at 86.57 pence to the common currency.

The services data trails a hot inflation print from Wednesday, which had spurred only fleeting gains for sterling.

The currency's rise didn't prove sticky, as analysts pinned the upside surprise on services inflation largely due to higher airfares as opposed to indications of broad-based price pressures.

The inflation numbers are unlikely to have a major impact on the Bank of England's policy trajectory as "the composition of the data was less bad than the headline number," said Samy Chaar, chief economist at Lombard Odier.

Money markets are currently pricing in a less than 50% chance of rate cut by the BoE before the end of 2025 while a cut is only priced in by March 2026.

Sterling stands out as a leading carry trade candidate among the currencies of the Group of 10, comparable to the high-yielding U.S. dollar, analysts at UBS said in a note. Reuters