Investing.com - The pound trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, following remarks by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, but market sentiment remained cautious ahead of a keenly anticipated European Union summit.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.5526, the pair’s lowest since June 15, to hit 1.5562 during European afternoon trade, still down 0.04% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5471, the low of June 14 and resistance at 1.5641, Wednesday’s high.
Market sentiment improved after Mr. Schäuble indicated that Germany could be willing to accept the idea of joint euro zone bonds more quickly than had been anticipated, but added that there could be no jointly issued bonds without a common fiscal policy.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Schäuble also said Germany would support short-term measures to deal with the acute problems facing some countries in the euro area.
The comments fanned hopes that European leaders would make headway on dealing with the crisis, after a German government official indicated earlier that the summit would not result in any detailed decisions.
In the U.K., official data confirmed that Britain’s economy contracted by 0.3% in the three months to March, but the contraction in the previous quarter was revised up to 0.4%, from a preliminary estimate of 0.3%.
A separate report showed that the U.K. current account deficit widened to GBP11.17 billion in the first quarter, from a shortfall of GBP7.22 billion in the fourth quarter.
Economists had expected the current account deficit to widen to GBP9.0 billion.
The weak data reinforced expectations that the Bank of England may implement a third round of quantitative easing measures to shore up growth, possibly as soon as next month.
Sterling remained higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.23% to trade at 0.7990.
Investors were looking ahead to U.S. government data on initial jobless claims and revised data on first quarter economic growth later in the session.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.5526, the pair’s lowest since June 15, to hit 1.5562 during European afternoon trade, still down 0.04% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5471, the low of June 14 and resistance at 1.5641, Wednesday’s high.
Market sentiment improved after Mr. Schäuble indicated that Germany could be willing to accept the idea of joint euro zone bonds more quickly than had been anticipated, but added that there could be no jointly issued bonds without a common fiscal policy.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Schäuble also said Germany would support short-term measures to deal with the acute problems facing some countries in the euro area.
The comments fanned hopes that European leaders would make headway on dealing with the crisis, after a German government official indicated earlier that the summit would not result in any detailed decisions.
In the U.K., official data confirmed that Britain’s economy contracted by 0.3% in the three months to March, but the contraction in the previous quarter was revised up to 0.4%, from a preliminary estimate of 0.3%.
A separate report showed that the U.K. current account deficit widened to GBP11.17 billion in the first quarter, from a shortfall of GBP7.22 billion in the fourth quarter.
Economists had expected the current account deficit to widen to GBP9.0 billion.
The weak data reinforced expectations that the Bank of England may implement a third round of quantitative easing measures to shore up growth, possibly as soon as next month.
Sterling remained higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.23% to trade at 0.7990.
Investors were looking ahead to U.S. government data on initial jobless claims and revised data on first quarter economic growth later in the session.