Investing.com - The pound moved broadly higher on Thursday after steps announced by the Bank of England to cool the property market were seen as unlikely to have a significant impact in the short term.
GBP/USD was up 0.26% to 1.7024, from around 1.7003 ahead of the announcement.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6950 and resistance at 1.7062, the five-and-a-half year high set on June 19.
The BoE said that from October, it will cap mortgages, so that people borrowing 85% of a house's value will not be allowed to borrow more than 4.5 times their income.
The bank also announced a new affordability test on banks, whereby borrowers will now have to show that they can repay the mortgage even if interest rates rise 3%, up from 1% previously.
BoE Governor Mark Carney said the recovery in the U.K. economy is broadening and strengthening, but the housing market is the main risk to financial stability.
The bank acknowledged that the immediate impact of the cap would be minimal as most lenders already lend within the 4.5 income limit, but Carney said the measures will have "an impact of the durability of the expansion."
The euro also fell against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.34% to 0.7998, not far from the more than one-and-a-half year low of 0.7958 set earlier this month.