Investing.com - The pound fell to session lows against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday after data showed that manufacturing production in the U.K. declined at the fastest rate in 16 months in May.
GBP/USD was down 0.23% to 1.7087 from around 1.7141 ahead of the data.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.7050 and resistance at 1.7146, the session high.
The Office for National Statistics said 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.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.14% to 0.7955, recovering from Monday’s lows of 0.7914, the lowest since September 2012.