Investing.com - The pound rose to nearly two-month highs against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as demand for the greenback weakened ahead of U.S. data and the Federal Reserve's monthly policy statement due later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5406 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since March 2; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5387, gaining 0.32%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5174, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.5460, the high of February 27.
The greenback came under pressure after the U.S. Conference Board said on Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence fell to 95.2 this month from a reading of 101.4 in March.
The report added to a recent string of disappointing data which has prompted investors to scale back expectations on the timing of a first rate hike by the U.S. central bank.
Investors were looking ahead to preliminary data on first quarter U.S. economic growth and a report on pending home sales later in the day for further indications on the strength of the recovery, ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement.
In the U.K., the Nationwide Building Society earlier reported that its house price index rose 1.0% this month, exceeding expectations for a 0.2% uptick, after a 0.1% gain in March.
Markets shrugged off data on Tuesday showing that the U.K. gross domestic product expanded 0.3% in the three months to March, slowing from 0.6% in the final quarter of 2014. It was the slowest rate of growth since the fourth quarter of 2012.
Investors were also eyeing the outcome of the upcoming U.K. general elections on May 7, which could result in a hung parliament and an unstable coalition government, which could act as a drag on growth.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.13% to 0.7149.