Investing.com - The pound edged higher against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, but concerns over the outlook for the U.K. economy saw that sterling's gains were limited despite a broad-based risk rally.
GBP/USD hit 1.6035 during European morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5987, edging up 0.08%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.5890, the low of October 26 and resistance at 1.6082, the high of September 8.
Risk appetite was boosted after European leaders reached an agreement with banks to take a ‘voluntary’ 50% loss on the face value of their Greek debt. The writedown will reduce Greece’s debt burden from 160% of GDP to a more sustainable 120% by 2020.
The leaders also agreed to scale up the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to EUR1 trillion and to recapitalize European banks by EUR106 billion, though they did not say how the money would be provided.
But, the pound remained under pressure after the Bank of England implemented a second round of monetary easing earlier this month, amid concerns over weakening economic conditions in the U.K.
Elsewhere, sterling was sharply lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.55%, to hit 0.8752.
Later in the day the Confederation of British Industry was to release its index of realized sales.
The U.S. was also to publish preliminary data on third quarter GDP, as well as its weekly data on initial jobless claims.
GBP/USD hit 1.6035 during European morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5987, edging up 0.08%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.5890, the low of October 26 and resistance at 1.6082, the high of September 8.
Risk appetite was boosted after European leaders reached an agreement with banks to take a ‘voluntary’ 50% loss on the face value of their Greek debt. The writedown will reduce Greece’s debt burden from 160% of GDP to a more sustainable 120% by 2020.
The leaders also agreed to scale up the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, to EUR1 trillion and to recapitalize European banks by EUR106 billion, though they did not say how the money would be provided.
But, the pound remained under pressure after the Bank of England implemented a second round of monetary easing earlier this month, amid concerns over weakening economic conditions in the U.K.
Elsewhere, sterling was sharply lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.55%, to hit 0.8752.
Later in the day the Confederation of British Industry was to release its index of realized sales.
The U.S. was also to publish preliminary data on third quarter GDP, as well as its weekly data on initial jobless claims.