Investing.com - The pound slipped lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as demand for the greenback remaied broadly supported by upbeat U.S. economic reports and expectations for an early rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
GBP/USD hit 1.6276 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since September 18; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6293, shedding 0.28%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6244, the low of September 18 and resistance at 1.6416, Wednesday's high.
The dollar found further support after a report on Wednesday showed that U.S. new home sales data rose 18.0% last month to 504,000 units, the highest level since May 2008.
Earlier in the week, a report showed that the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in September, matching the rate of growth seen in the previous month, which was the strongest in over four years.
The strong data added to expectations that the Fed will hike interest rates sooner than markets are expecting.
The pound had strengthened earlier in the week as investor focus returned to the outlook for U.K. monetary policy in the wake of last week's Scottish independence referendum.
Sterling was higher against the euro, still hovering close to a two-year peak with EUR/GBP falling 0.22% to 0.7804.
The euro came under broad selling pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Wednesday that the bank will keep its monetary policy "accommodative" for as long as needed, and will use every tool at its disposal to fight deflation.
The comments came after data showed that Germany's Ifo business confidence index deteriorated for the fifth successive month in September, adding to fears that the euro zone’s largest economy is losing momentum.
Later in the day, the U.K. was to publish industry data in realized sales, while the U.S. was to release data on durable goods orders, as well as the weekly report on jobless claims.