Investing.com - The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Friday, after the release of downbeat U.K. economic reports, although sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable due to the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on rate hikes.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.4140, the session high, to hit 1.4098 during European morning trade, still up 0.32%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4004, the low of April 6 and a one-month low and resistance at 1.4280, the high of April 5.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that manufacturing production declined by 1.1% in February, compared to expectations for a 0.2% fall. Manufacturing production rose by 0.5% in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.7% gain.
Year-on-year, manufacturing production dropped 1.8% in February, confounding expectations for a 0.7% fall.
The report also showed that U.K. industrial production slipped by 0.3% in February, compared to expectations for a 0.1% rise and after a downwardly revised 0.2% gain the previous month.
Another report showed that the U.K. trade deficit narrowed to £11.96 billion in February from £12.16 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £10.29 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to £10.20 billion in February.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained under pressure after the minutes from the Fed's March policy meeting on Wednesday indicated that the central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates before June due to concerns over global economic growth.
The greenback briefly strengthened earlier, after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said late Thursday that the U.S. economy was not a "bubble economy" and that the labor market was "healing".
Yellen also said that the December decision to raise interest rates was not a mistake.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.27% to 0.8074.