The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at 0.1% on Thursday and stuck to its 895 billion pound ($1.22 trillion) asset purchase target.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected no change to the BoE's main policy settings after its September Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

Policymakers voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged but Dave Ramsden joined Michael Saunders in voting for an early end to the central bank's ongoing program of government bond purchases.

The BoE raised its target for government bond purchases by 150 billion pounds in November 2020 and said these purchases would be spread out over the course of 2021. ($1 = 0.7317 pounds)