The pound slumped against both the euro and the dollar after the minutes to the latest Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealed only a very close vote to leave interest rates unchanged at 4.75 pct. The nine-member MPC voted 5-4 in favour of the move, with four members opting to cut rates. The news all but cements market expectations that the MPC will cut interest rates at its next meeting on Aug 4. Most analysts had expected a 6-3 vote, with a risk that it could be less than that Sterling slumped to four-month lows against the euro and was nearing year lows against the dollar. At 10.25 am, the pound was trading at 1.7351 against the dollar, down sharply from 1.7423 usd just before the minutes were released, while the euro rose to 0.6966 stg from 0.6938 previously "All in all, the tone of the minutes suggests that a 25 basis point rate cut on Aug 4 is a done deal, followed by another 25 basis point cut in the fourth quarter," said CALYON currency analyst Kristjan Kasikov. At face value, this is bad news for sterling, although much of this news is already priced in and further losses are likely to slow from here, he said