Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the Bank of England left monetary policy on hold and the release of mixed U.S. economic reports.
GBP/USD hit 1.6329 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6319, easing up 0.06%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6253, Wednesday's low and a seven-week low and resistance at 1.6438, the high of January 15.
Earlier in the day, the BoE voted to leave interest rates steady at record lows of 0.5%, where they have been unchanged since March 2009. The bank also made no change to its quantitative easing program, which remains at 375 billion pounds.
The decision came one day after data that activity in the U.K.’s dominant service sector eased in January, but growth remained solid, indicating that the economic recovery is on track.
The report showed that price pressures for service firms picked up only slightly last month, giving the central bank leeway to keep policy loose for longer while the economic recovery continues.
In the U.S., the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 331,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 351,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 16,000.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit widened 12% to USD38.7 billion in December, as exports dropped 2.2% and imports rose 1.6%.
Meanwhile, government data showed that U.S. non-farm productivity rose more-than-expected in the fourth quarter, while unit labor costs fell more than forecast.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.44% to 0.8334.
The single currency found support after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the euro zone will not slide into deflation. Draghi said the ECB sees a protracted period of low inflation, not full blown deflation, reiterating that the bank is “monitoring developments closely".
The remarks came after the ECB voted to leave interest rates across the euro zone unchanged at their record low of 0.25%.