The British pound showed mixed trading against the other major currencies in the early European session on Wednesday following the release of the Bank of England's minutes of its monetary policy meeting and the nation's unemployment report for the three months to October.

Bank of England policymakers decided to leave its key rate at a historic low of 0.50 percent in a split vote for the fifth straight time at the meeting held on December 3 and 4. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to retain its key rate at 0.50 percent. Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale sought a 25 basis-point hike for the fifth straight meeting.

Regarding the asset purchase programme, the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to maintain it at GBP 375 billion.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that U.K. unemployment rate fell less than expected in the August to October period. Compared with a year earlier, the number of unemployed people fell by 455,000.

The claimant count rate fell to 2.7 percent in November as expected, from 2.8 percent in October. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance decreased by 26,900 from October, while economists expected a decline of 20,000.

Traders focus on the Federal Reserve's final interest rate announcement of 2014, due later in the day.

In the Asian trading, the pound held steady against most major rivals.

In the European trading, the pound retreated to 1.5106 the Swiss franc, from an early 2-day high of 1.5155 and held steady thereafter.

Against the euro, the pound rose to a 2-day high of 0.7922 from an early low of 0.7953. If the pound extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around the 0.78 area.

Pulling away from early highs of 1.5752 against the U.S. dollar and 184.68 against the yen, the pound edged down to 1.5676 and 183.63, respectively, and held steady thereafter.

Looking ahead, U.S. CPI for November and current account balance for third quarter are due to be released in the New York session.

At 9:00 am ET, Swiss National Bank is set to release its latest quarterly monetary policy report on business cycle trends.

At 2:00 pm ET, the Federal Reserve will announce its decision on monetary policy. The Fed is expected to hold rates at 0.25 percent. Subsequently, Fed Chair Janet Yellen holds a press conference following FOMC meeting on interest rate policy.

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