Investing.com – Sterling reversed early gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, retreating from the daily high after data showed that the U.K. construction sector contracted more-than-expected in December.
GBP/USD retreated from 1.5628, the daily high, to hit 1.5576 during European late morning trade, dipping 0.05%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5453, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.5663, the high of December 31.
The Markit/CIPS Construction Purchasing Managers' Index for December fell to 49.1 from 51.8 in November. Analysts had expected the PMI to decline to 51.1 in December.
The report said that output had been hit by the exceptionally harsh December weather.
Sarah Ledger, economist at Markit, said: “Growth has been subdued in recent months, largely due to contractions in residential construction, signaling that business conditions in the sector were not conducive to a large overall expansion in activity."
Meanwhile, the pound was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.5% to hit 0.8494.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a jobs report by Automatic Data Processing as well as data from the Institute of Supply Management on service sector activity.
GBP/USD retreated from 1.5628, the daily high, to hit 1.5576 during European late morning trade, dipping 0.05%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5453, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.5663, the high of December 31.
The Markit/CIPS Construction Purchasing Managers' Index for December fell to 49.1 from 51.8 in November. Analysts had expected the PMI to decline to 51.1 in December.
The report said that output had been hit by the exceptionally harsh December weather.
Sarah Ledger, economist at Markit, said: “Growth has been subdued in recent months, largely due to contractions in residential construction, signaling that business conditions in the sector were not conducive to a large overall expansion in activity."
Meanwhile, the pound was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.5% to hit 0.8494.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a jobs report by Automatic Data Processing as well as data from the Institute of Supply Management on service sector activity.