Investing.com - The pound pushed lower against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin tapering its asset purchases in the near future continued to support demand for the greenback.
GBP/USD hit 1.6160 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since November 21; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6163, shedding 0.38%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6060, the low of November 19 and resistance at 1.6257, the high of October 23.
The greenback remained supported after last week’s minutes of the Fed’s October meeting said the bank could start tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program in the “coming months” if the economy continues to improve as expected.
In a report released on Monday, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index declined by 0.6% in October, disappointing expectations for a 1.3% gain.
Pending home sales for September were revised to a 4.6% decline from a previously reported drop of 5.6%.
The pound came under pressure earlier, after the British Banker's Association said that the number of new mortgages approved in October fell to 42,800 from September’s revised total of 43,200, which was the highest since December 2009.
Analysts had expected the number of new mortgages approved to rise to 45,200 last month.
Sterling was steady against the pound with EUR/GBP inching up 0.01%, to hit 0.8355.
The euro weakened after Bloomberg reported that European Central Bank Governing Council member Ardo Hansson said the bank is ready to make further cuts to interest rates and is “technically ready” for negative deposit rates.
“The options on rate cuts are still not fully exhausted and there are all kinds of other measures that are still on the table,” Hansson said.
The comments came amid concerns over mounting deflationary pressures in the euro area after data showed that the annual rate of inflation in the region fell to a four year low of 0.7% in October.
The slowdown in inflation prompted the ECB to cut rates to a record low 0.25% at its November policy meeting.
GBP/USD hit 1.6160 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since November 21; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6163, shedding 0.38%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6060, the low of November 19 and resistance at 1.6257, the high of October 23.
The greenback remained supported after last week’s minutes of the Fed’s October meeting said the bank could start tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program in the “coming months” if the economy continues to improve as expected.
In a report released on Monday, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index declined by 0.6% in October, disappointing expectations for a 1.3% gain.
Pending home sales for September were revised to a 4.6% decline from a previously reported drop of 5.6%.
The pound came under pressure earlier, after the British Banker's Association said that the number of new mortgages approved in October fell to 42,800 from September’s revised total of 43,200, which was the highest since December 2009.
Analysts had expected the number of new mortgages approved to rise to 45,200 last month.
Sterling was steady against the pound with EUR/GBP inching up 0.01%, to hit 0.8355.
The euro weakened after Bloomberg reported that European Central Bank Governing Council member Ardo Hansson said the bank is ready to make further cuts to interest rates and is “technically ready” for negative deposit rates.
“The options on rate cuts are still not fully exhausted and there are all kinds of other measures that are still on the table,” Hansson said.
The comments came amid concerns over mounting deflationary pressures in the euro area after data showed that the annual rate of inflation in the region fell to a four year low of 0.7% in October.
The slowdown in inflation prompted the ECB to cut rates to a record low 0.25% at its November policy meeting.