Investing.com - The pound hit fresh one-week lows against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the release of disappointing U.S. economic reports and as earlier U.K. data continued to weigh on demand for sterling.
GBP/USD hit 1.6570 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since March 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6579, shedding 0.28%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6510, the low of March 26 and resistance at 1.6664, Wednesday's high.
The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index rose to 53.1 last month, from a reading of 51.6 in February. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 53.5 in March.
Data also showed that trade deficit unexpectedly widened to $42.3 billion in February from a deficit of $39.28 billion the previous month, as exports dropped 1.1% and imports rose 0.4%.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $38.5 billion.
Separately, the Labor Department reported that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week increased by 10,000 to 326,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 310,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 7,000 to 317,000 last week.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.20% to 0.8265.
The single currency came under pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi played down the risk of deflation in the euro zone on Thursday, but added that the bank has not ruled out further policy action, including quantitative easing.
The comments came after the central bank left rates on hold at a record low 0.25%.