Investing.com - The pound rose to nearly three-week highs against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after upbeat U.K. house price data and as investors awaited the Bank of England's upcoming rate statement.
GBP/USD hit 1.5244 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5230, rising 0.33%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5125, the low of January 28 and resistance at 1.5336, the high of January 5.
Industry data earlier showed that U.K. house price inflation rose 2.0% in January, beating expectations for a 0.1% uptick. December's figure was revised to a 1.1% increase from a previously estimated 0.9% gain.
House prices in January were 8.5% higher than the same month a year earlier, above forecasts for a 7.8% gain and after an increase of 7.8% in December.
The report came a day after data showed that the Markit/CIPS Services PMI increased to 57.2 last month from a reading of 55.8 in December. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 56.3 in January.
Later Thursday, the BoE was expected to leave interest rates on hold at 0.50% and its asset purchase facility program at £375 billion.
Meanwhile, investors remained cautious after the European Central Bank said on Wednesday that it would no longer accept Greek bonds as collateral for lending, shifting the burden on to Greece’s central bank to provide additional liquidity for its lenders and increasing pressure on Athens.
Greece’s government is seeking debt relief on its current €240 billion bailout, which has fuelled fears over a clash with its creditors that could bring about its eventual exit from the euro zone.
Sterling was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing 0.09% to 0.7465.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce its weekly report on initial jobless claims in addition to data on the trade balance.