Investing.com - The pound pared losses against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. existing home sales rose far more-than-expected last month, although concerns over the handling of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone continued to weigh.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.6185, the pair's lowest since September 14, to hit 1.6227 during U.S. morning trade, still down 0.10%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6142, the low of September 14 and resistance at 1.6271, the daily high.
The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales in the U.S. rose by 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted 4.82 million units in August, easily surpassing expectations for a 2% increase to 4.55 million units.
The report came after official data showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 2.3% in August to a seasonally adjusted 0.750 million, below expectations for a 2.85 increase to 0.765 million.
The report also showed that the number of building permits issued in August fell 1% to a seasonally adjusted 0.803 million, compared to expectations for a decline of 1.8% to 0.796 million.
But investors remained cautious amid reports several German lawmakers are seeking to water down proposals for a European banking union and supervision of euro zone banks by the European Central Bank.
Markets were also jittery following news Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy remains uncertain about asking for help from the European Central Bank's new bond-purchasing program, which would mean signing up to a permanent bailout fund.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP adding 0.14%, to hit 0.8041.
Also Wednesday, the minutes of the Bank of England’s latest meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to leave policy unchanged.
BoE policymakers voted 9 to zero in favor of leaving U.K. interest rates unchanged at 0.5% at its meeting this month and also agreed to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
The minutes revealed that some Monetary Policy Committee members saw stimulus “more likely than not” to be needed in the near-term, while only MPC member saw good case for more quantitative easing, despite the unanimous vote.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.6185, the pair's lowest since September 14, to hit 1.6227 during U.S. morning trade, still down 0.10%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6142, the low of September 14 and resistance at 1.6271, the daily high.
The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales in the U.S. rose by 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted 4.82 million units in August, easily surpassing expectations for a 2% increase to 4.55 million units.
The report came after official data showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 2.3% in August to a seasonally adjusted 0.750 million, below expectations for a 2.85 increase to 0.765 million.
The report also showed that the number of building permits issued in August fell 1% to a seasonally adjusted 0.803 million, compared to expectations for a decline of 1.8% to 0.796 million.
But investors remained cautious amid reports several German lawmakers are seeking to water down proposals for a European banking union and supervision of euro zone banks by the European Central Bank.
Markets were also jittery following news Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy remains uncertain about asking for help from the European Central Bank's new bond-purchasing program, which would mean signing up to a permanent bailout fund.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP adding 0.14%, to hit 0.8041.
Also Wednesday, the minutes of the Bank of England’s latest meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to leave policy unchanged.
BoE policymakers voted 9 to zero in favor of leaving U.K. interest rates unchanged at 0.5% at its meeting this month and also agreed to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
The minutes revealed that some Monetary Policy Committee members saw stimulus “more likely than not” to be needed in the near-term, while only MPC member saw good case for more quantitative easing, despite the unanimous vote.