Investing.com - The pound trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the release of strong U.K. retail sales data, although the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates on Wednesday continued to support the greenback.
GBP/USD eased off 1.4920, the pair's lowest since December 3, to hit 1.4966 during European morning trade, still down 0.23%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4902, the low of December 3 and resistance at 1.5102, Wednesday's high.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that retail sales increased by 1.7% last month, blowing past forecasts for a gain of 0.5%. Retail sales in October fell by 0.5%, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 0.6%.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose at a rate of 5.0% in November, easily surpassing expectations for a 3.0% gain, after rising at a rate of 4.2% a month earlier.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, jumped by 1.7% last month, above forecasts for a 0.6% increase and following a decline of 0.8% in September.
Elsewhere, at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25% and 0.50%, boosting optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy.
It was the first rate hike in the U.S. since 2006.
Commenting on the decision, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that further rate hikes would be gradual and data dependent.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.27% to 0.7254.
In the euro zone, the German research institute Ifo said its Business Climate Index fell to 108.7 this month from a reading of 109.0 in November, below forecasts for 109.0.