Investing.com - The pound slid lower against the dollar on Wednesday, but losses were limited as Tuesday’s disappointing U.S. jobs report cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay plans to start scaling back its stimulus program.
GBP/USD hit 1.6120 during European afternoon trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6151, shedding 0.52%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6020 and resistance at 1.6255, the session high and an almost nine-month high.
The dollar remained under pressure after data showing weaker than expected U.S. jobs growth in September added to the view that the Fed will maintain the current pace of its asset purchase program until well into next year.
The Department of Labor said the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, well below expectations for an increase of 180,000, indicating that jobs growth had slowed even before the start of the recent 16-day government shutdown.
In the U.K., Wednesday’s minutes of the Bank of England’s October meeting said the unemployment rate appears to be falling at a faster than expected rate as the "robust" recovery gains traction.
The unemployment rate declined to 7.7% from 7.8% since the bank released its August inflation report, when it said it would take three years to fall to the threshold of 7% at which it would start to look at raising interest rates.
The bank estimated that growth in the second half of the year would remain around 0.7% a quarter or a little higher, stronger than expected at the time of the August inflation report.
Policymakers voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and to keep stimulus on hold the minutes said.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.36% to 0.8518.
The European Central Bank announced details of new bank stress tests on Wednesday. The review is to run over the course of a year and conclude before the ECB assumes its supervisory role over the bloc’s banking sector at the end of 2014.
GBP/USD hit 1.6120 during European afternoon trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6151, shedding 0.52%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6020 and resistance at 1.6255, the session high and an almost nine-month high.
The dollar remained under pressure after data showing weaker than expected U.S. jobs growth in September added to the view that the Fed will maintain the current pace of its asset purchase program until well into next year.
The Department of Labor said the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, well below expectations for an increase of 180,000, indicating that jobs growth had slowed even before the start of the recent 16-day government shutdown.
In the U.K., Wednesday’s minutes of the Bank of England’s October meeting said the unemployment rate appears to be falling at a faster than expected rate as the "robust" recovery gains traction.
The unemployment rate declined to 7.7% from 7.8% since the bank released its August inflation report, when it said it would take three years to fall to the threshold of 7% at which it would start to look at raising interest rates.
The bank estimated that growth in the second half of the year would remain around 0.7% a quarter or a little higher, stronger than expected at the time of the August inflation report.
Policymakers voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.5% and to keep stimulus on hold the minutes said.
Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.36% to 0.8518.
The European Central Bank announced details of new bank stress tests on Wednesday. The review is to run over the course of a year and conclude before the ECB assumes its supervisory role over the bloc’s banking sector at the end of 2014.