Bank of England’s wait-and-see approach unlikely to calm nerves | Richard Partington and Larry Elliott

After a day of volatility, the Bank's statement was a far cry from the cavalry arriving to help the battered pound

• Markets warn interest rates could triple by next year
• Q&A: what does the pound's slump mean for the UK?

After a day of wild speculation in the City of London that left the pound in apparent freefall, the Bank of England had little choice but to break its usual silence on day-to-day currency market movements.

Sterling had plunged overnight in Asia to its lowest level in history against the US dollar, in a punishing verdict on Kwasi Kwarteng's 45bn of unfunded tax cuts announced last week.