Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Monday, after the release of disappointing U.S. manufacturing activity data, while earlier U.K. reports showed that mortgage approvals and business lending declined in February.
GBP/USD hit 1.6660 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's highest since March 17; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6650, easing up 0.06%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6556, the low of March 27 and resistance at 1.6717, the high of March 13.
Data showed that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index fell to 55.9 this month from a reading of 59.8 in February. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 59.0 in March.
Earlier Monday, the Bank of England said that U.K. mortgage approvals fell to 70,309 in February, the lowest level since October 2013. Market expectations had been for a slight decline to 75,000 from January’s more than six-year high of 76,753.
The BoE also said business lending was down ₤750 million compared with the previous month.
Net lending rose by ₤2.3 billion last month, in line with forecasts, up from ₤2.1 billion in January.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.31% to 0.8290.
In the euro zone, data showed that the annual rate of inflation fell to the lowest level since November 2009 in March, fuelling expectations for further easing measures by the European Central Bank.
The annual rate of consumer inflation in the euro area slowed to 0.5% this month from 0.7% in February, undershooting expectations for a reading of 0.6%. The ECB targets an inflation rate of just under 2%.
The report showed that core inflation rose 0.8% in March, in line with forecasts, but down from 1.0% in February.
The weak data fuelled expectations that the ECB could take steps to bolster the fragile recovery in the euro area at its upcoming policy meeting on Thursday. Last month the central bank left rates on hold, but indicated that it was prepared to take decisive action if the inflation outlook continued to deteriorate.