Investing.com - The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, pulling away from session highs following the release of unexpectedly strong U.S. data on manufacturing and housing.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.6295, the session high, to hit 1.6265 during U.S. morning trade, still up 0.12% for the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6193, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.6305, Wednesday’s high and a three-month high.
The dollar found support after official data showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region expanded at the fastest pace in eight months in December.
The Philly Fed manufacturing index rose to 8.1 in December from minus 10.7 in November, compared to expectations for a reading of minus 3.0.
Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales rose by 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted 5.04 million units in November. Analysts had expected U.S. existing home sales to rise 2.3% to 4.87 million units.
Sterling rose to session highs earlier after revised data showed that the U.S. economy expanded by an annualized 3.1% in the three months to September, up from a preliminary estimate of 2.7% and above expectations for growth of 2.8%.
In a separate report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance last week rose by 17,000 to 361,000, compared to expectations for an increase of 13,000 to 357,000.
Investors remained cautious as growing doubts over whether a deal to avoid the U.S. fiscal cliff will be reached ahead of the January 1 deadline fuelled concerns that automatic tax hikes and spending cuts will be triggered.
Sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8140.
In the U.K., data on Thursday showed that retail sales were flat in November, compared to expectations for a 0.3% increase.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose at an annualized rate of 0.9% in November, below expectations for a 1.5% increase, after rising at a revised rate of 0.8% in the preceding month.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.6295, the session high, to hit 1.6265 during U.S. morning trade, still up 0.12% for the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6193, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.6305, Wednesday’s high and a three-month high.
The dollar found support after official data showed that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region expanded at the fastest pace in eight months in December.
The Philly Fed manufacturing index rose to 8.1 in December from minus 10.7 in November, compared to expectations for a reading of minus 3.0.
Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales rose by 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted 5.04 million units in November. Analysts had expected U.S. existing home sales to rise 2.3% to 4.87 million units.
Sterling rose to session highs earlier after revised data showed that the U.S. economy expanded by an annualized 3.1% in the three months to September, up from a preliminary estimate of 2.7% and above expectations for growth of 2.8%.
In a separate report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance last week rose by 17,000 to 361,000, compared to expectations for an increase of 13,000 to 357,000.
Investors remained cautious as growing doubts over whether a deal to avoid the U.S. fiscal cliff will be reached ahead of the January 1 deadline fuelled concerns that automatic tax hikes and spending cuts will be triggered.
Sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8140.
In the U.K., data on Thursday showed that retail sales were flat in November, compared to expectations for a 0.3% increase.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose at an annualized rate of 0.9% in November, below expectations for a 1.5% increase, after rising at a revised rate of 0.8% in the preceding month.