Forexpros – The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, pulling back from a one-month high but remained supported by new hopes of progress in talks to restructure Greek sovereign debt and positive U.S. data.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.5718, the pair’s highest since December 22, to hit 1.5680 during U.S. morning trade, still up 0.14%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5636, the low of December 1 and resistance at 1.5769, the high of December 7.
Talks on a debt swap deal between debt strapped Greece and its private creditors were to resume in Athens later in the day.
Sentiment was boosted by Greek media reports that the country’s creditors were prepared to accept lower interest rates on new bonds to be issued to replace their existing Greek holdings.
Investor confidence was also supported after official data showed earlier that U.S. durable goods orders advanced for the third consecutive month, climbing 2.1%, outstripping expectations for a 0.9% rise.
A separate report showed that U.S. jobless claims rose slightly more-than-expected last week, climbing to 377,000 after dropping to 356,000 the previous week, the lowest level in nearly four years.
Despite the increase, jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 11 of the past 13 weeks.
Meanwhile, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.22%, to hit 0.8390.
The pound remained under pressure after industry data showed that U.K. retail sale volumes dropped to the lowest level since March 2009 this month, with retailers expecting volumes to keep declining in February.
The report came one day after data showing the U.K. economy contracted in the fourth quarter, underlining concerns over fresh monetary easing by the Bank of England.
Forexpros
