1034 GMT - Sterling remains in a difficult position as the Bank of England contends with elevated inflation and tepid U.K. economic growth, Marex's Jonathan Pryor says in a note. "Growth is still underwhelming, and unless we pin our hopes on some sort of productivity increase from AI, which is still in extremely early days, there doesn't seem to be a factor that's going to get the U.K. economy out of the woods," he says. At the same time, inflation is still uncomfortably high and energy prices continue to rise, he says. Given these factors and high U.K. government bond yields, the BOE has a challenging job, he says. Sterling trades steady at $1.3472. The euro rises 0.1% to 0.8566 pounds.