Investing.com - The pound was slightly lower against the stronger dollar on Thursday after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicated that the bank could start reducing stimulus in the next few months.
GBP/USD edged down 0.007% to 1.6092 from Wednesday’s close of 1.6103 after falling as low as 1.6073 earlier.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6047, the low of November 15 and resistance at 1.6150.
Demand for the dollar was underpinned after the minutes of the Fed’s October meeting indicated that policymakers could start scaling back the USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program in the “coming months” if the economy continues to improve as expected.
The pound found support after data released on Thursday showed that the U.K. public sector finances improved last month.
The Office for National Statistics said the public deficit fell to GBP8.078 billion in October from GBP8.242 billion a year earlier.
Elsewhere, sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8344.
In the euro zone, data on Thursday showed that manufacturing activity expanded in line with forecasts in November, but service sector activity declined unexpectedly, indicating that the recovery in the bloc is losing momentum.
The euro zone’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked up to 51.5 in November from a final reading of 51.3 in October.
The currency bloc’s services PMI declined to 50.9 this month from 51.6 in October, disappointing expectations for an increase to 51.9.
The euro found some support after Germany's manufacturing PMI rose to a 29 month high of 52.5 in November, from 51.7 in October, while the services sector PMI rose to a nine-month high of 54.5 from 52.9.
Meanwhile, weaker-than-expected French data indicated that activity in the euro zone’s second-largest economy contracted for the first time in three months in November.
GBP/USD edged down 0.007% to 1.6092 from Wednesday’s close of 1.6103 after falling as low as 1.6073 earlier.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6047, the low of November 15 and resistance at 1.6150.
Demand for the dollar was underpinned after the minutes of the Fed’s October meeting indicated that policymakers could start scaling back the USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program in the “coming months” if the economy continues to improve as expected.
The pound found support after data released on Thursday showed that the U.K. public sector finances improved last month.
The Office for National Statistics said the public deficit fell to GBP8.078 billion in October from GBP8.242 billion a year earlier.
Elsewhere, sterling was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8344.
In the euro zone, data on Thursday showed that manufacturing activity expanded in line with forecasts in November, but service sector activity declined unexpectedly, indicating that the recovery in the bloc is losing momentum.
The euro zone’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked up to 51.5 in November from a final reading of 51.3 in October.
The currency bloc’s services PMI declined to 50.9 this month from 51.6 in October, disappointing expectations for an increase to 51.9.
The euro found some support after Germany's manufacturing PMI rose to a 29 month high of 52.5 in November, from 51.7 in October, while the services sector PMI rose to a nine-month high of 54.5 from 52.9.
Meanwhile, weaker-than-expected French data indicated that activity in the euro zone’s second-largest economy contracted for the first time in three months in November.