Investing.com - The pound edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as Thursday's upbeat U.S. economic reports continued to support demand for the greenback and investors eyed the release of additional U.S. data later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.6030 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6055, shedding 0.20%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5940, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.6182, the high of October 8.
The dollar strengthened broadly on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 11 decreased by 23,000 to a 14-year low of 264,000 from the previous week’s total of 287,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 290,000 last week.
A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production climbed 1.0% last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% rise.
The greenback's gains were limited however as St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank may want to maintain its bond buying for now given a drop in inflation expectations.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP inching up 0.06% to 0.7967.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable amid growing concerns over the threat of deflation in the euro zone after revised data on Thursday showed that bloc's consumer price inflation rose by 0.3% in September, in line with expectations.
The rate has now been below 1% for 12 straight months, well under the European Central Bank's target of near but just under 2%.
Later in the day, rhe U.S. was to produce reports on building permits and housing starts, as well as a preliminary report on consumer sentiment.