By Jessica Mortimer LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling was the focus in the foreign exchanges on Wednesday, its rise to one-month's highs against the dollar and euro after Bank of England minutes helping push the greenback lower against a basket of currencies. Sterling jumped after the minutes of the BoE's latest policy meeting dampened expectations of an extension to quantitative easing. The dollar was steady against the euro and higher against currencies such as the Australian dollar, however, as lower equities and oil prices discouraged investors from buying currencies seen as riskier. The BoE minutes showed policymakers voted unanimously to leave its quantitative easing programme -- under which the bank buys assets to pump cash into the economy -- unchanged last month. "Today is mostly about certain currencies moving on specific stories," said Lee Hardman, currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. "The Bank of England minutes shifted the balance of risks in favor of a pause in asset purchases in November, which the pound has reacted to," he said. The New Zealand dollar was the other major gainer after the country's central bank chief Alan Bollard said a strong currency was not necessarily an obstacle to raising the cash rate. At 1112 GMT (7:12 a.m. EDT), sterling was up 1.1 percent at $1.6560, while the euro was down 1.1 percent against the pound to 90.14 pence. The New Zealand dollar was 0.4 percent higher at $0.7526 Against a basket of currencies, the dollar .DXY fell 0.1 percent to 75.474, close to a 14-month low of 75.103 hit on Tuesday. The euro was steady at $1.4930. Traders said the euro's steep falls against the pound were a major factor preventing gains in euro/dollar, while the single currency remained anchored below the psychologically key $1.50 level which it has so far failed to breach. Investors were concerned there may be little scope for further falls in the dollar after its recent drop to more than one-year lows against a range of currencies. "The broader environment is still one that favors dollar weakness, but selling the dollar is becoming a trade of diminishing returns," BTMU's Hardman said. Ebbing risk appetite, with European shares down 0.8 percent .FTEU3 and oil prices falling more than 1 percent, also helped the dollar against some currencies. The higher-yielding Australian dollar fell 0.2 percent to $0.9215, erasing earlier gains, while the U.S. dollar rose 0.2 percent versus the yen to 90.88 yen.

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