Investing.com - The pound rose to one-week highs against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as investors awaited the Bank of England's monthly policy statement due later in the day, as well as weekly data on U.S. jobless claims.
GBP/USD hit 1.5414 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since May 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5393, rising 0.35%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5248, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.5478. the high of May 26.
Later Thursday, the BoE was expected to leave its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.50% and its asset purchase facility program at £375 billion.
The pound had come under pressure on Wednesday after the Markit services purchasing managers' index slowed to 56.5 last month from 59.5 in April. It was its lowest level since December. Economists had expected the index to tick down to 59.2.
Meanwhile market participants were looking to the weekly report on U.S. jobless claims due later in the day, as well as Friday's nonfarm payrolls data for further indications on the strength of the country's job market.
On Wednesday, payroll processing firm ADP said U.S. non-farm private employment rose by 201,000 last month, just above expectations for an increase of 200,000.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.34% to 0.7373.