Investing.com - The pound was steady against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading close to a 17-month low as concerns over the euro zone’s debt crisis persisted ahead of a French debt auction later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5278 during European afternoon trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5319, edging up 0.01%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5232, the low of January 13 and a 17-month low and resistance at 1.5366, the high of January 12.
France was preparing to auction as much as EUR8.7 billion in short-term government debt later in the day.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook for its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
Market sentiment was hit on Friday after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
Reacting to the downgrades earlier, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that the euro zone needs to show that it can stand behind the shared currency and resolve Greece’s debt crisis.
Also Monday, a report by Rightmove showed earlier that house price inflation declined 0.8% in January, after a 2.7% fall the previous month.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP easing down 0.01%, to hit 0.8276.
Markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for Martin Luther King Day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5278 during European afternoon trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5319, edging up 0.01%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5232, the low of January 13 and a 17-month low and resistance at 1.5366, the high of January 12.
France was preparing to auction as much as EUR8.7 billion in short-term government debt later in the day.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook for its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
Market sentiment was hit on Friday after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
Reacting to the downgrades earlier, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that the euro zone needs to show that it can stand behind the shared currency and resolve Greece’s debt crisis.
Also Monday, a report by Rightmove showed earlier that house price inflation declined 0.8% in January, after a 2.7% fall the previous month.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP easing down 0.01%, to hit 0.8276.
Markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for Martin Luther King Day.