Investing.com - The pound slipped lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as sentiment on the greenback was mostly supported ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5313 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5327, shedding 0.24%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5177, the low of June 2 and resistance at 1.5441, Thursday's high.
Investors were eyeing data on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day for further indications on the strength of the job market.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 30 declined by 8,000 to 276,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 284,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 5,000 to 279,000 last week.
The report came a day after data showed that the U.S. private sector added 201,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for 200,000.
The pound had found some support on Thursday after the Bank of England held the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move, and maintained the stock of asset purchases at £375 billion.
Sterling was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP advancing 0.49% to 0.7350.
The single currency strengthened after official data earlier showed that German factory orders increased by 1.4% in April, beating expectations for a 0.5% gain. The change in factory orders for March was revised to a 1.1% rise from a previously estimated 0.9% uptick.
But investors remained cautious after Greece on Thursday told the International Monetary Fund it would delay a debt payment of about $339 million due Friday, submitting a request to bundle payments totaling about $1.7 billion due this month into one payment.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has rejected proposals by creditors to help unlock more aid to help with repayments. Following late night talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "we’re still far from reaching a conclusion."