london dec 17 reuters  the british pound consolidated gains on friday and was on track to post its biggest weekly rise since october after the bank of england this week became the first g7 economy to raise interest rates against the us dollar the pound was flat at 13325  staying near a more than threeweek high at 13376 hit in the aftermath of thursdays boe rate decision on the week the pound was up 04 which would be its biggest weekly gain since midoctober if it ends the day at that level the boe stunned markets on thursday by raising interest rates by 15 bps to 025 sending gilt yields bank stocks and the british pound shooting higher read more britain became the first g7 economy to hike rates since the onset of the pandemic and the us federal reserve this week also signalled plans to tighten policy in 2022 while the european central bank only slightly reined in stimulus strong uk retail sales data for november along with inflation jumping to a decade high fuelled expectations that the boe will raise rates again in february this latest data  strong retail sales and resilient consumer confidence  suggests that the demand side of the uk economy remains robust even with higher inflation hsbc strategists said in a note against the euro  the pound was broadly steady at 8505 pence