UK rate futures switch bets to half-point BoE rate rise

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors in interest rate futures switched their bets on Friday to narrowly favour a half-point interest rate rise by the Bank of England next week, having earlier this month seen a more than 80% chance that it would raise rates by 75 basis points.

At 1335 GMT, rate futures showed a 51% chance of rates rising to 2.25%, and a 49% chance of an increase of a rise to 2.5% when the BoE announces its next Monetary Policy Committee decision on Sept. 22.

Earlier on Friday, official figures showed a much sharper than expected fall in retail sales for August, increasing the chances that future gross domestic product data will show Britain is already in a recession.

Economists polled by Reuters forecast on average a 50 basis point rate rise.

(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)