Investing.com - The pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as markets were jittery ahead of the release of U.S. economic reports later in the day, as well as mounting concerns over events in Crimea.
GBP/USD hit 1.6626 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6641, inching down 0.03%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6568, the low of March 12 and resistance at 1.6717, the high of March 13.
Market sentiment weakened as over 90% of Crimean voters on Sunday chose to break with Ukraine and join Russia. U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington rejected the results of the referendum and warned that the U.S. was ready to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained fragile after a preliminary report on Friday showed that the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 79.9 this month, from a reading of 81.6 in February, confounding expectations for a rise to 82.0.
Data also showed that U.S. producer price inflation fell 0.1% in February, confounding expectations for a 0.2% rise, while core producer price inflation, which excludes food, energy and trade, slipped 0.2% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.1% rise.
Sterling was steady against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.02% to 0.8355.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on manufacturing activity in the Empire State, as well as reports on industrial production and long term securities transactions.