Investing.com - The pound pushed sharply lower to hit an 11-month trough against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as the release of upbeat U.S. employment data sent the greenback broadly lower, while disappointing U.K. service sector data continued to weigh on sterling.
GBP/USD hit 1.5965 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since Novemer 2013; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5969, down 1.09%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5852 and resistance at 1.6159, the session high.
The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to 58.6 in September from a reading of 59.6 in August. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 58.5 last month.
Earlier Friday, the Department of Labor said the U.S. economy added 248,000 jobs in September, more than the expected 215,000 increase. The number of jobs created in August was revised to 180,000 from a previous estimate of 142,000.
In addition, the U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 5.9% last month, from 6.1% in August. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $40.10 billion in August from $40.30 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of $40.60 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to $40.90 billion in August.
The pound had weakened earlier, after Markit said the U.K. services PMI slipped to 58.7 in September from a reading of 60.5 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 59.1 last month.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.15% to 0.7835.
Earlier Friday, Markit said the euro zone services PMI ticked down to 52.4 in September from 52.8 the previous month, confounding expectations for the index to remain unchanged.
Germany's services PMI rose to 55.7 last month from a reading of 55.4 in August, while France's services PMI fell to 48.4 in September from 49.4 in August.
The euro shrugged off data showing that euro zone retail sales rose 1.2% in August, beating expectations for an uptick of 0.1%, after 0.4% fall in July.