Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, hovering within close distance of a one-and-a-half month high as markets eyed the upcoming U.K. quarterly inflation report hearings, as well as congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
GBP/USD hit 1.5474 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5446.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5332, the low of February 23 and resistance at 1.5586, the high of January 2.
Investors remained cautious as Fed Chair Janet Yellen was to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington later Tuesday, with market participants watching for any indication on when U.S. interest rates may start to rise.
Last week’s minutes of the Fed’s January meeting were more dovish than expected, showing that some officials thought that raising rates too soon could weigh on the U.S. economic recovery, and that a deterioration in the global economic outlook could also pose a threat.
The pound shrugged off a report by the Confederation of British Industry on Monday showing that its index of U.K. retailers plunged by 38.0 points to a 21-month low of 1.0 in February from 39.0 in January. Analysts had expected the index to fall by 5.0 points to 34.0 this month.
Sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7329.