Investing.com - The pound rose to one-month highs against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as demand for the greenback remained broadly under pressure after Wednesday's downbeat U.S. data and ahead of a report on U.S. durbale goods orders later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5144 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since March 18; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5140, climbing 0.56%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4957, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.5256, the high of March 6.
The dollar remained under pressure on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased unexpectedly by 1,000 to 295,000 last week from the previous week’s total of 294,000.
Data also showed that U.S. new home sales dropped 11.4% last month to 481,000 units, compared to expectations for a 5.3% fall to 513,000 units.
The weak reports dampened optimism on the U.S. recovery and led investors to push back expectations for higher U.S. interest rates.
The pound shrugged off data on Thursday showing that U.K. retail sales fell 0.5% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise. Year-on-year, U.K. retail sales rose 4.2% in March, disappointing expectations for a 5.4% gain.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles and fuel, ticked up 0.2% last month, less than the expected 0.4% increase.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP edging up 0.13% to 0.7197.
In the euro zone, the Ifo Institute of Economic Research said that Germany's business climate index rose to a 10-month high of 108.6 in April from 107.9 in March, beating expectations for an uptick to 108.4.