Forex - GBP/USD steady as markets focus on Greece

Investing.com - The pound was steady against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as markets were jittery amid renewed concerns over Greece's debt crisis, despite better-than-expected U.S. gross domestic product data.

GBP/USD hit 1.6133 during U.S. morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6121, inching up 0.01%.

Cable was likely to find support at 1.6042, the low of October 18 and resistance at 1.6171, the high of October 18.

In a report, the Bureau of Economic Analysis earlier said that U.S. GDP rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.0% in the third quarter, from 1.3% in the previous quarter.

Analysts had expected U.S. gross domestic product to rise 1.9% in the last quarter.

The report came after official data on Thursday showed that the U.K. exited a recession in the third quarter, with the economy growing at the fastest rate since the third quarter of 2007.

But investors remained cautious amid concerns over Greece's financial troubles, after a report from the International Monetary Fund said Greek debt would be above the target agreed with international lenders.

The Greek government responded by saying that a deal on Athens' latest austerity package was being held up by opposition from a coalition ally.

Markets were also jittery amid ongoing uncertainty over when Spain will request a bailout and trigger the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme.

The pound was also steady against the euro with EUR/GBP easing up 0.03%, to hit 0.8026.

Also Friday, a Gfk report showed that its consumer climate index for Germany improved unexpectedly to 6.3 in October from a reading of 6.1 the previous month.

Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 5.9 in October.

A separate report showed that Spain's unemployment rate rose to 25.0% in the second quarter, from a rate of 24.6% the previous quarter, barely beating expectations for a rise to 25.1%.