Investing.com - The pound edged up against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, pulling slightly away from a 14-month low after the minutes of the Bank of England's latest policy meeting showed an ongoing split over the necessity to raise interest rates.
GBP/USD hit 1.5652 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5646, edging up 0.09%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5504 and resistance at 1.5737, the high of November 17.
The minutes of the BoE's November policy meeting showed that members voted unanimously to keep the asset puschase facility program on hold.
However, members Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty voted for the fourth consecutive time to raise interest rates to 0.75% from a record-low 0.5%.
The report came a week after the BoE said that inflation is likely remain below its 2% target in the near term and fall below 1% at some point during the next six months.
Meanwhile, market sentiment remained under pressure after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Tuesday plans to delay a sales tax hike due to take place next year after an increase in April played a part in pulling Japan into a recession.
He also called elections for December, to seek a fresh mandate for his economic policies.
The decision came after data showed that Japan’s economy fell back into recession in the third quarter, contracting by an annualized 1.6% after a 7.3% contraction in the previous quarter.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.06% to 0.8012.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on building permits and housing starts. In addition, the Federal Reserve was to publish the minutes of its October meeting.