Minutes show Bank's King outvoted on QE

The Governor of the Bank of England failed to persuade the Monetary Policy Committee to inject further stimulus into the economy, the minutes of the MPC's meeting this month have shown.

The MPC's nine members voted six-three to keep the Bank's £375bn quantitative easing programme on hold. Sir Mervyn King, along with David Miles and Paul Fisher, again voted for a further £25bn of asset purchases. Analysts said the Governor's failure to successful argue the case for stimulus this month made more QE less likely.

"The minutes suggest a hardening of those members against further easing of policy, and support our current call that the MPC is likely to keep asset purchases on hold," said Jens Larsen of RBC Capital Markets.

The minutes show some members' concern that more QE would further weaken sterling and add to inflationary pressures. The pound gained in response, rising to $1.5158.