Investing.com - The pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as investors remained cautiously optimistic over fresh Greece bailout talks.
GBP/USD hit 1.5459 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s highest since January 11; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5448, inching up 0.05%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5395, the low of January 9 and resistance at 1.5500, the high of January 10.
Talks between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the country’s creditors resumed on Wednesday, after breaking down last week amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.
Greece needs to secure an agreement on restructuring its debt in order to access new bailout funds and avert a default when an EUR14.4 billion bond redemption comes due on March 20.
Sentiment slightly improved earlier after Spain auctioned more than the targeted amount of EUR4.5 billion, selling EUR6.6 billion of bonds.
The yield on the four-year bond was 4%, up from 3.9% at the last auction, while yields on the nine and 10-year bond were lower, at 4.5%, down from 5.1% at the previous auction, and 5.4% respectively, against 6.98% in December.
But concerns over the outlook in the euro zone remained after Fitch’s said that it expected its ratings review of six euro zone countries would result in downgrades of one to two notches in most cases. The review is set to be completed at the end of January.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.24%, to hit 0.8352.
Also Thursday, the Nationwide Building Society said in a report that its index of U.K. consumer confidence declined unexpectedly in December, slipping to 38 after a reading at 40 the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on building reports and housing starts as well as a report on consumer price inflation. The country was also to release government data on unemployment claims and a separate report on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area.
GBP/USD hit 1.5459 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s highest since January 11; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5448, inching up 0.05%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5395, the low of January 9 and resistance at 1.5500, the high of January 10.
Talks between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the country’s creditors resumed on Wednesday, after breaking down last week amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.
Greece needs to secure an agreement on restructuring its debt in order to access new bailout funds and avert a default when an EUR14.4 billion bond redemption comes due on March 20.
Sentiment slightly improved earlier after Spain auctioned more than the targeted amount of EUR4.5 billion, selling EUR6.6 billion of bonds.
The yield on the four-year bond was 4%, up from 3.9% at the last auction, while yields on the nine and 10-year bond were lower, at 4.5%, down from 5.1% at the previous auction, and 5.4% respectively, against 6.98% in December.
But concerns over the outlook in the euro zone remained after Fitch’s said that it expected its ratings review of six euro zone countries would result in downgrades of one to two notches in most cases. The review is set to be completed at the end of January.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.24%, to hit 0.8352.
Also Thursday, the Nationwide Building Society said in a report that its index of U.K. consumer confidence declined unexpectedly in December, slipping to 38 after a reading at 40 the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on building reports and housing starts as well as a report on consumer price inflation. The country was also to release government data on unemployment claims and a separate report on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area.