Expected pause, surprise on stance?

A change in stance could be inferred by the markets as a definite sign of rates peaking. MPC needs to be comfortable with expressing the softer-than 'pause but not a pivot' view of the April policy

A positive growth surprise from the gross domestic product (GDP) data and a downside inflation surprise from the recent consumer price index (CPI) prints provide a touch of ‘Goldilocks’ in the backdrop of the June Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The predictability quotient is high for the June MPC as there is near unanimity among market participants that it is going to keep the policy rates unchanged. An encouraging softening in the core inflation momentum provides the space to observe the lagged effect of past rate hikes in nudging the headline CPI towards the medium-term target of 4 per cent,