Investing.com - The pound slid lower against the dollar on Monday as unexpectedly weak trade data from China prompted concerns over the outlook for the global economic recovery.
GBP/USD hit 1.6622, the lowest since February 27 and was last down 0.45% to 1.6638.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6580 and resistance at 1.6740, the session high.
Market sentiment was hit after data released over the weekend showed that Chinese exports dropped 18.1% on a year-over-year basis in February, confounding expectations for a 6.8% increase, following a rise of 10.6% in January.
A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in China slowed to 2.0% in February, from 2.5% in January.
Demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned after the Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, well above expectations for 149,000 new jobs.
The jobs report eased concerns over soft U.S. employment and other economic data seen in the past few months. The strong figure indicated that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue to scale back its stimulus program, which has weighed on the value of the dollar.
In the U.K., Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean expressed concerns Monday that a further appreciation in sterling would damage hopes for an export boost to the economic recovery.
“Any further appreciation of sterling, which has risen almost 10% in trade-weighted terms since March, would not be particularly helpful in terms of facilitating a rebalancing towards net exports”, he said.
Elsewhere, sterling dropped to one-month lows against the stronger euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.53% to 0.8345.
The euro was boosted by diminished expectations for further easing by the European Central Bank, after the bank refrained from tightening monetary policy last week.
The ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5% on Thursday, saying economic conditions did not support tightening, despite the low inflation outlook for the euro area.