Investing.com - The pound trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as demand for the greenback weakened ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes due on Wednesday, although downbeat U.K. manufacturing production data continued to weigh on sterling.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.7086, the pair's lowest since June 30, to hit 1.7119 during U.S. morning trade, still down 0.05%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.7009, the low of June 30 and resistance at 1.7180, the high of July 4.
The dollar remained supported after a strong U.S. jobs report late last week sparked speculation that the Federal Reserve could bring forward its timetable for raising interest rates.
The U.S. economy added a larger-than-forecast 288,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1%, the lowest in almost six years.
But the greenback's gains against the other major currencies paused on Tuesday due to the belief that the Fed will stick to its dovish stance on monetary policy amid concerns over ongoing slow growth in inflation and wages.
Earlier Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics said U.K. manufacturing production fell 1.3% in May, the largest decline since January 2013, confounding expectations for a gain of 0.4%.
Overall industrial production was down 0.7%, the biggest fall since August 2013, bringing the annual rate to 2.3%.
The data indicated that the economic recovery in the U.K. may not be a solid as hoped.
Sterling has rallied to almost six-year highs against the dollar and two year highs against the euro in recent sessions amid expectations that signs of a deepening economic recovery would prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates before the end of this year.
The pound was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.08% to 0.7950.