Investing.com - The pound rose against the dollar on Friday after investors avoided the single currency while digesting a mixed bag of U.S. economic indicators.
In U.S. trading on Friday, GBP/USD was trading at 1.6828, up 0.22%, up from a session low of 1.6784 and off a high of 1.6841.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6662, the low from April 15, and resistance at 1.6997, the high from May 6.
The preliminary Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 81.8 in May from 84.1 in April, confounding market expectations for a 84.5 reading, which softened the dollar.
On the flip side, the Census Bureau reported that U.S. building permits rose 8% to 1.080 million units last month, up from an upwardly revised 1.000 million in March. Analysts were expecting building permits to rise to 1.010 million units in April, and the better-than-expected figure gave the greenback support.
The report also showed that housing starts rose to 1.072 million units in April, from 947,000 in March, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated 946,000. Analysts had expected building starts to rise to 980,000 units last month.
Elsewhere, investors continued to track developments in Ukraine, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia it faced broader economic and sector-related sanctions if it meddled in Ukraine's presidential elections on May 25.
Elsewhere, sterling was up against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.29% at 0.8142, and up against the yen, with GBP/JPY up 0.10% at 170.71.