Investing.com - The pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as the Bank of England's latest growth forecasts continued to weigh on demand for sterling, while investors awaited the release of U.S. housing data later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.6806 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6796, inching up 0.04%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6720, the low of April 16 and resistance at 1.6874, the high of May 16.
The pound came under pressure after the BoE on Wednesday left its forecasts for growth and inflation largely unchanged in its quarterly Inflation Report and indicated that it is still in no rush to hike interest rates.
The BoE said it now expects economic growth of 2.9% in 2015, up from 2.7% in its February report, and said the rate of growth this year would remain unchanged at 3.4%.
Demand for the greenback found support after a string of upbeat U.S. economic reports were released on Thursday, including jobless claims and manufacturing activity in New York and Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments in Ukraine as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia it faced broader economic and industrial sanctions if it meddled in Ukraine's presidential elections on May 25.
Sterling was little changed against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.02% to 0.8167.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on building permits and housing starts, as well as a preliminary reading on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.