Investing.com - The pound edged up to six-month highs against the U.S. dollar in quiet trade on Thursday, as demand for the greenback remained broadly under pressure after the previous session's U.S. retail sales data.
GBP/USD hit 1.5789 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since November 2014; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5757, adding 0.08%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5630, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.6023.
The dollar remained under pressure after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales were unchanged, compared to expectations for a 0.2% increase.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose just 0.1%, undershooting forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
The data underlined expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay hiking rates until later in the year, after recent figures showed that the U.S. economy expanded just 0.2% in the first quarter.
The pound recovered after the Bank of England on Wednesday trimmed its forecast for growth this year to 2.4%, down from 2.9% three months ago.
The central bank added that it expects inflation, which currently stands at a record-low zero, to return to its 2% target in two years' time, little changed from its last report.
Also Wednesday, official data showed that the U.K. unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5% last month from 5.6% in March, hitting the lowest level since September 2008.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.37% to 0.7238.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish reports on producer prices and initial jobless claims.