Investing.com - The pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, hovering close to two-month highs after data showed that the U.K. economy grew in line with expectations in the fourth quarter, while sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable.
GBP/USD hit 1.5552 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since January 2; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5531.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5453, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.5621, the high of December 31.
In a report, the Office for National Statistics said the U.K. gross domestic product expanded by 0.5% in the final three months of 2014, unchanged from an initial estimate and in line with expectations. The U.K.’s economy grew by 0.7% in the previous quarter.
Year-over-year, U.K. economic growth grew 2.7% in the three months to December, unchanged from a preliminary reading. The U.K. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.6% in the third quarter of 2014.
The report also showed that total U.K. business investment fell 1.4% in the last quarter, disappointing forecasts for a 1.9% gain and following a 1.2% decline in the third quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure amid lowered expectations for a mid-year U.S. rate hike after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that it was "unlikely" that economic conditions would warrant an interest rate increase for "at least the next couple of FOMC meetings".
In a second day of testimony to the Financial Services Committee on Wednesday Yellen reiterated this message, saying that wage growth and inflation must rise before the bank can hike rates, despite signs of improvement in the labor market.
Sterling was little changed against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7312.
In the euro zone, Germany's Federal Statistics Office said the number of unemployed people fell by 20,000 this month, compared to expectations for a drop of 10,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 6.5% in February, in line with expectations.
A separate report showed that the German Gfk consumer climate index rose to 9.7 from 9.3 in January, slightly ahead of forecasts of 9.6.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on the consumer price index, as well as reports on initial jobless claims and durable goods orders.