Investing.com - The pound rose against the U.S. dollar on Friday, despite the release of disappointing trade data from the U.K., as Brexit concerns slightly eased and investors turned their attention to the upcoming U.S. employment report.
GBP/USD hit 1.2971 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2939, rising 0.25%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.2796, Wednesday’s low and a fresh 31-year trough and resistance at 1.3047, Thursday’s high.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics said the country's goods trade deficit widened to £9.88 billion from £9.41 billion in April, whose figure was revised from an initial deficit of £10.53 billion.
Economists had expected the goods trade deficit to come in at £10.65 billion in May.
But investors seemed to shrug off the weak data, as well as persistant uncertainty over the consequences of the Brexit vote on the U.K. economy, as investors turned to the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday, for further confirmation of the strength of the job market after upbeat data was released on Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Labor said on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 2 decreased by 16,000 to 254,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 270,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000.
In addition, U.S. Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose 172,000 last month, above forecasts for an increase of 159,000.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable however after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers agreed that it was “prudent to wait” for additional data before considering another rate hike.
Sterling was also higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.13% to 0.8557.