Investing.com - The pound was little changed against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged and announced no change to its asset purchase facility program.
GBP/USD hit 1.6834 during early European afternoon trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6850, dipping 0.03%.
Cable was likely to find support at around the 1.68 level and resistance at 1.6887, this week's high.
At the conclusion of its monthly policy meeting, the BoE said it was maintaining the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move.
The central bank also said it was to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
The pound had come under pressure on Wednesday after data showed that industrial and manufacturing output in the U.K. expanded at a slower than expected rate in June.
The soft factory data indicated that the economic recovery in the U.K. is still being mainly driven by the expansion in the country’s dominant services sector.
A report earlier in the week showed that activity in the U.K. service sector accelerated at the quickest pace in eight months in July.
Strong economic data in recent months has added to signs that the recovery in the U.K. is deepening, fuelling expectations for a rate hike by BoE before the end of this year.
Meanwhile, demand for the dollar remained supported after data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly to $41.54 billion in June. It was the smallest deficit in five months as exports inched up 0.1% and imports fell 1.2%.
The report came one day after data showed that the U.S. service sector expanded at the fastest pace in more than three years in July, while a separate showed that U.S. factory orders rose 1.1% in June, above economists' forecasts of a 0.5% gain.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.01% at 0.7940.
Investors were also awaiting the European Central Bank’s rate statement later Thursday, as concerns over the divergence in monetary policy between it and its major peers continued to weigh on the single currency.
The ECB was expected to keep monetary policy unchanged after it cut rates to record lows in June in a bid to avert the threat of deflation in the region.