Investing.com - The pound was higher against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as demand for the greenback weakened ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, expected later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.4903 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4891, climbing 0.55%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4797, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.4982, the high of April 6.
Market participants were eyeing the Fed's upcoming meeting minutes for indications on the central bank's next policy moves after Friday's downbeat jobs data fuelled uncertainty over the timing of a rate hike.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 126,000 new jobs in March, less than half of February’s gain and the smallest increase since December 2013.
The pound also remained supported after data on Tuesday showed that U.K. service sector activity expanded at the fastest rate in seven months in March.
Markit said the U.K. services purchasing managers' index increased to 58.9 last month from a reading of 56.7 in February. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 57.0 in March.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.16% to 0.7291.
In the euro zone, official data earlier showed that German factory orders fell 0.9% in February, disappointing expectations for an increase of 1.5%. January's figure was revised to a 2.6% drop from a previously estimated 3.9% slide.