Investing.com - The pound traded steady to higher against the dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England left rates unchanged at a policy meeting, though better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data gave the dollar some support.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was trading at 1.6740, up 0.10%, up from a session low of 1.6686 and off a high of 1.6750.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6641, Tuesday's low, and resistance at 1.6751, Monday's high.
Earlier Thursday, the BoE voted to leave U.K. interest rates unchanged at their record low of 0.5%, and also left its quantitative easing program steady at 375 billion pounds, which gave the pound support.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 26,000 to 323,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 349,000.
Analysts were expecting jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 338,000 last week, and the better-than-expected reading supported the greenback.
A separate report showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.7% in February compared to expectations for a 0.4% decline, which kept the dollar on the soft side of trading.
Sterling was down against the euro, with EUR/GBP up 0.61% at 0.8264, and up against the yen, with GBP/JPY up 0.96% as 172.71.
The ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, as recent data indicated moderate economic recovery in the euro zone.
ECB President Mario Draghi said that he was encouraged by Wednesday data revealing that business activity in the euro zone rose to a 32-month high in February and also praised improvements in the services sector, which accounts for the majority of job growth.
Draghi reiterated the ECB’s forward guidance on rates, stressing that interest rates will remain at their present levels or lower for an extended period. The ECB remains determined to maintain the high degree of accommodative monetary policy for as long as needed, and will take further actions as it sees fit, he added.
Still, the decision to leave policy unchanged bolstered the single currency on Thursday.
The central bank revised its forecast for economic growth in 2014 to 1.2% from 1.1% in December.
However, the bank revised down its inflation forecast for this year to 1.0% from 1.1% in December. The bank expects inflation to pick up to 1.3% in 2015 and 1.5% in 2016, remaining below the bank’s target of just under 2%.
On Friday, the U.S. is to round up the week with its closely watched government data on nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate.
The U.K. is to release data on consumer inflation expectations.