The Bank of England's decision to halt its quantitative easing programme raised few eyebrows in fund management circles today, but whilst most did not foresee rapid moves to tighten monetary policy, they agreed that the economy was not out of the woods yet.

Peter Hensman from Newton Investment Management said: "While there has not been the increase in broad money supply that the bank set out initially as its criterion for judging the quantitative easing programme to be a success, the evidence of financial markets functioning normally and the signs of stabilisation in the broader economy justify at least a pause in the bank's efforts.