GBP firmed against its major rivals in the European session on Thursday as investors awaited the UK's finance minister Rishi Sunak to unveil a new round of measures to bolster the country's economy, hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions to contain it. Sunak is expected to present a new wage support scheme in a speech around 10:45 GMT.

The Bank of England's (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey is also set to speak today (due at 14:00 GMT). Investors will scrutinize his remarks for clues whether the British central bank intends to cut interest rates below zero. Earlier this week, Bailey acknowledged that the BoE’s officials had looked very hard at the scope to cut rates further, including negative interest rates, but this did not imply that the Bank would necessarily use negative rates.