Investing.com – The pound edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, trading close to an eight-month trough as concerns over the outlook for U.K. growth weighed ahead of the release of U.K. retail sales data.
GBP/USD hit 1.5732 during early European trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5761, dipping 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find short-term support at 1.5707, Wednesday’s low and an eight-month low and resistance at 1.5869, Tuesday’s high.
Sentiment on the pound has been hit by speculation that the Bank of England may resort to fresh monetary stimulus measures to shore up growth after a recent slew of soft economic data added to fears over the fragile economic recovery.
Data on Wednesday showed the number of people in the U.K. claiming unemployment benefit rose slightly less than expected in August, but the number of people without work on the wider ILO measure showed its biggest rise in two years.
Meanwhile, concerns over the exposure of U.K. lenders to euro zone sovereign debt weighed, as fears over the debt crisis in the region intensified.
The pound was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.10% to hit 0.8729.
Elsewhere Thursday, the U.S. was to publish a string of data, with government reports on consumer price inflation, as well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims. The country was also to publish official data on manufacturing activity in New York and Philadelphia and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak.
GBP/USD hit 1.5732 during early European trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5761, dipping 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find short-term support at 1.5707, Wednesday’s low and an eight-month low and resistance at 1.5869, Tuesday’s high.
Sentiment on the pound has been hit by speculation that the Bank of England may resort to fresh monetary stimulus measures to shore up growth after a recent slew of soft economic data added to fears over the fragile economic recovery.
Data on Wednesday showed the number of people in the U.K. claiming unemployment benefit rose slightly less than expected in August, but the number of people without work on the wider ILO measure showed its biggest rise in two years.
Meanwhile, concerns over the exposure of U.K. lenders to euro zone sovereign debt weighed, as fears over the debt crisis in the region intensified.
The pound was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing up 0.10% to hit 0.8729.
Elsewhere Thursday, the U.S. was to publish a string of data, with government reports on consumer price inflation, as well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims. The country was also to publish official data on manufacturing activity in New York and Philadelphia and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak.