Investing.com - The pound edged up against the U.S. dollar in subdued trade on Monday, as investors continued to lock in profits on the greenback's recent rally following the release of mostly positive U.S. employment data on Friday.
GBP/USD hit 1.5918 during European afternoon trade, the pair's highest since November 6; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5894, adding 0.14%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5788, Friday's low and a 14-month low and resistance at 1.6003, the high from November 6.
On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October, missing expectations for jobs growth of 231,000.
September’s figure was revised up to 256,000 from a previously reported 248,000 and August’s figure was also revised up to 203,000 from 180,000 pointing to underlying strength in the labor market.
The U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to a fresh six-year low of 5.8% from 5.9% in September.
The data prompted investors to sell the greenback to lock in gains following its recent rally, but did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates ahead of its other major peers.
The pound had dropped to 14-month lows against the dollar late last week, as recent surveys of the U.K. service and manufacturing sectors added to worries that the rate of the economic recovery is slowing.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP edging up 0.11% to 0.7857.
In the euro zone, data showed that Italian industrial production fell 0.9% from a month earlier in September, compared to expectations for a 0.2% gain.
The weak data fuelled fears that Friday's report on third quarter growth will show that Italy has fallen back into a recession after the economy contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter.