By Bo Nielsen Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The pound rose against the dollar after the Bank of England boosted its bond-purchase program by a less-than-forecast 25 billion pounds ($41 billion), adding to evidence the economic recovery is taking hold. The U.K. currency also advanced versus the euro as policy makers increased asset purchases to 200 billion pounds, compared with the 225 billion pounds predicted in a Bloomberg survey. The euro recovered earlier losses before European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet holds a press conference following a decision to leave interest rates unchanged today. The dollar slid against the euro and the yen. “The BOE was relatively more hawkish than expected,” said Simon Derrick, the London-based chief currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the world’s biggest custodian of assets. “Can the ECB be more hawkish with an oil price approaching $80 a barrel? Yes they can.” The pound advanced 0.2 percent to $1.6593 as of 12:18 p.m. in London, rebounding from as low as $1.6467. The British currency strengthened 0.4 percent to 89.45 pence per euro. The euro traded at $1.4838 from $1.4861. The yen was at 134.07 per euro, from 134.85, and 90.37 per dollar from 90.72. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee left the nation’s key rate unchanged at 0.5 percent today. The ECB held it’s main refinancing rate at 1 percent. Trichet is due to address reporters at 2:30 p.m. in Frankfurt. The U.K. central bank “believes that the prospect is for a slow recovery in the level of economic activity, so that a substantial margin of under-utilized resources persists,” it said in a statement. “That will continue to bear down on inflation for some time to come.”

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