LONDON: Britain’s pound hit a 14-month high against the dollar on Friday and was heading for its best week in more than eight years on a trade-weighted basis, with traders ratcheting up bets on a near-term interest rate hike from the Bank of England.

Sterling recorded its best day against the dollar since April on Thursday, after the BoE warned it might raise interest rates for the first time in more than a decade in the “coming months”.

It built on those gains on Friday, rising almost half a per cent in morning trade in London to $1.3450, its highest level since mid-July 2016.

Against the euro, it gained 0.3 per cent to 88.75 pence. It rose to 77.7 on the Bank of England’s trade-weighted sterling index, leaving it up more than 2.6 per cent on the week and on track for its best week since June 2009.