Investing.com - The pound remained slightly lower against the dollar on Thursday as concerns over the upcoming European Union referendum overshadowed encouraging U.K. trade data.
GBP/USD was last down 0.26% at 1.4466 from around 1.4459 earlier.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the U.K. trade deficit fell more than expected in April, after a record increase in goods exports.
The volume of exported goods jumped 11.2% or £2.2 billion from a month earlier, taking the total value of goods exports to £26.1 billion.
Imports rose by £2 billion to £36.6 billion, the ONS said.
The increase in exports meant that the trade deficit narrowed to £3.29 billion in April from a downwardly revised £3.53 billion in March, the lowest level since September 2015.
The data indicated that recent weakness in trade data may be coming to an end.
But sentiment on sterling remained fragile ahead of the June 23 EU Brexit referendum.
Data from Betfair on Thursday showed a 75.8% implied probability of Britain voting to stay in the EU, up from 72% earlier in the week.
While betting odds have consistently pointed to a vote to remain in the 28 member bloc, opinion polls have offered a more contradictory view of the outcome of the vote.
The dollar pulled away from five-week lows against a basket of currencies, with the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rising to 93.77.
The dollar has weakened as markets pushed back expectations on the timing of the next rate hike by the Federal Reserve after Friday’s dismal employment report for May, which showed the slowest rate of jobs growth since September 2010.
A speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Monday indicated that interest rates won’t rise until uncertainty over the economic outlook is resolved.
Yellen said she expects the economic recovery to continue but gave no indications on the timing of a next rate increase.