UK bond yields, which move in the opposite direction to prices, hit a two-year high of over 3% as investors predict the Bank will be forced to raise rates sooner than it expects.

With investors continuing to bring forward their rate rise expectations in spite of the Bank’s reassurance that rates will remain low for several years yet, some had expected the BoE to issue a statement alongside today’s policy decision.

But the decision, which saw the Bank keep quantitative easing on hold as expected, was not accompanied by the kind of statement seen in July, when policymakers said expectations of future rate rises were “not warranted”.

That pushed the yield on 10-year gilts to a two-year high of just over 3%, up from 2.88%.

Investors now predict the first UK rate hike will take place in October 2014, far earlier than the September 2015 date forecast before the introduction of forward guidance earlier this summer.

The pound also rose against the dollar in the absence of a BoE statement, reaching a two-week high against the dollar of $1.5663.

Gilts yields rose on a day when benchmark yields elsewhere were already moving higher.

Ten-year treasury yields also edged closer to the 3% mark, hitting 2.97% in early trading across the Atlantic.

German 10-year bund yields, meanwhile, rose above 2% for the first time since March 2012 earlier today, according to Tradeweb.