Investing.com – The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after data showing an unexpected drop in U.K. industrial output and stagnation in the manufacturing sector in February dampened expectations for a near-term interest rate hike by the Bank of England.
GBP/USD eased back from 1.6363, a two-week high, to hit 1.6298 during European afternoon trade, up 0.03% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6090, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.6363, the days high.
The Office for National Statistics said that industrial output contracted by 1.2% in February after downwardly revised growth of 0.3% in January. Economists had forecast a 0.4% increase in industrial output over the month and this was the biggest fall since August 2009.
Year-on-year, industrial output growth slowed to 2.4%, it’s weakest since July 2010.
The report said that oil and gas extraction fell by 7.8% due to maintenance work and production slowdowns at some sites, its biggest drop since August 2009.
Manufacturing production, which does not include utilities or oil and gas extraction, was unexpectedly flat in February after January's downwardly revised growth of 0.9%.
Meanwhile, the pound was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.49% to hit 0.8770.
Also Wednesday, a report by U.K. lender Halifax showed that house prices edged higher in March but the small upward move was not enough to prevent prices falling over the first quarter of the year.
GBP/USD eased back from 1.6363, a two-week high, to hit 1.6298 during European afternoon trade, up 0.03% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6090, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.6363, the days high.
The Office for National Statistics said that industrial output contracted by 1.2% in February after downwardly revised growth of 0.3% in January. Economists had forecast a 0.4% increase in industrial output over the month and this was the biggest fall since August 2009.
Year-on-year, industrial output growth slowed to 2.4%, it’s weakest since July 2010.
The report said that oil and gas extraction fell by 7.8% due to maintenance work and production slowdowns at some sites, its biggest drop since August 2009.
Manufacturing production, which does not include utilities or oil and gas extraction, was unexpectedly flat in February after January's downwardly revised growth of 0.9%.
Meanwhile, the pound was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.49% to hit 0.8770.
Also Wednesday, a report by U.K. lender Halifax showed that house prices edged higher in March but the small upward move was not enough to prevent prices falling over the first quarter of the year.