Investing.com - The pound remained higher against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as U.K. retail sales data continued to support, although positive U.S. economic reports also boosted demand for the greenback.
GBP/USD hit 1.6647 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's highest since March 19; the pair subsequently consolidated 1.6645, 0.39%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6556, the session low and resistance at 1.6717, the high of March 13.
The pound found support earlier, after office for National Statistics said U.K. retail sales rose 1.7% in February; recouping most of January’s 2.0% decline, and were 3.7% higher from a year earlier.
Market expectations had been for a 0.5% increase on the month and an annual gain of 2.5%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, jumped 1.8%, outstripping forecasts for a 0.3% gain, after falling 2.0% in January.
Retail sales growth was led by food stores which contributed more than half of the overall increase in sales volumes, the ONS said.
In the U.S., official data showed that gross domestic product was revised up to 2.6% in the final three months of 2013, from a preliminary estimate of 2.4%. Market expectations had been for an upward revision to 2.7%.
The report showed that personal spending was revised up to 3.3% from 2.6% initially, the fastest rate of growth in three years.
Separately, the Labor Department said the number of people who filed for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. last week declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 321,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000.
The upbeat data added to hopes that the slowdown in economic activity seen at the start of the year would be temporary.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP declining 0.46% to 0.8276.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable on Thursday after European Central Bank officials indicated earlier in the week that they are considering fresh policy options to stave off the risk of deflation in the region.