U.K. Pound Slips More As London Airport Evacuated; BOE Weighs Most

By Bradley Davis 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The U.K. pound continued weakening against its rivals Thursday, hitting new intraday lows against the dollar after a London airport reported it had evacuated a terminal.
Reports of Heathrow Airport closing part of Terminal Five added a bit of extra pressure on a pound that had already been in decline after the Bank of England earlier stood pat on key rates.
There had been a small chance the BOE would raise rates to curb rising inflation pressures, analysts said, but the central bank disappointed those expectations, leading the pound to drop more than 0.7% against the dollar by New York morning trading.
The U.K. pound was at $1.6084 from $1.6201 late Wednesday, according to EBS via CQG.
Adrian Schmidt, senior currency strategist at Lloyds TSB in London, said he doubted the London airport incident was seriously weighing on the pound, but the Heathrow headlines could have given the pair a nudge lower.
"The pound basically has been a bit softer since the rate decision," he said.
-By Bradley Davis, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2654; bradley.davis@dowjones.com