Aug 23 (Reuters) - Sterling hovered near a 13-month high against the dollar on Friday, trading just short of levels seen in April 2022, as traders awaited key speeches from the heads of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

The pound rose 0.2% to $1.3116, building on gains earlier this week that sent it to its highest since July 2023. It looked on track for a weekly rise of a 1.5%.

Sterling has been among the top performing major currencies this year, picking up momentum in August after a slew of stronger-than-expected economic data coincided with growing bets of U.S. interest rate cuts.

Latest numbers showed British consumer confidence held at an almost three-year high in August. A survey on Thursday showed UK business activity accelerated in August and cost pressures eased to their weakest in over three years.

Traders are awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day at the Jackson Hole research conference for clues on the extent of rate cuts this year from the U.S. central bank.

Signs of slowing U.S. economic growth have fuelled bets of a series of rate cuts this year and dented the dollar in recent weeks. Traders are pricing in about 100 basis points of U.S. rate cuts by the end of 2024.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is also set to speak at the symposium at 1900 GMT.

"We think he may emulate Powell's approach in saying as little as possible," ING FX strategist Francesco Pesole said.

"Bailey does not have to deal with aggressively dovish pricing (-39bp by year-end), but the UK still needs to gain much more confidence on the inflation front."

A majority of economists said in a Reuters poll that the Bank of England will cut rates just once more this year, in November, as inflation is expected to stay above target. Traders have priced in about 42 bps of cuts by December, market pricing shows.

Euro/sterling fell to a three-week low, to trade down 0.1% at 84.78 pence per euro.

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https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-pinned-near-13-month-high-ahead-powell-bailey-speeches-2024-08-23/