Thursday, October 4 13:31 pm

The Bank of England held its key interest rate at 5.75 percent on Thursday, opting for no change for the third month in a row as the central bank took stock of recent turmoil on world financial markets.
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Sterling rebounded slightly against the dollar following the announcement which was in line with market expectations.

The decision by the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) comes before a separate rate call at 1145 GMT from the European Central Bank, which is also expected to freeze eurozone borrowing costs at 4.00 percent.

The nine-strong MPC gave no insight into its October decision, as is customary when no change is made to the so-called "repo" rate -- at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.

Market watchers will have to wait until October 17, when minutes from this week's meeting are published.

However, after the BoE put rates on hold in September, it took the rare step of issuing an explanatory statement, arguing that it was too soon to assess the economic effects of the global credit squeeze.

Since its rate call in September the BoE had provided emergency funds to crisis-hit British bank Northern Rock, which has run into trouble sourcing credit.

Before the markets chaos unfolded, many experts predicted the BoE might lift borrowing costs to 6.00 percent before the end of the year, as the central bank remains on guard against higher inflation.

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