Forexpros – The pound was steady against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as investors remained jittery ahead of the U.K. government’s autumn budget statement and a meeting of European Union finance ministers later in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5538 during European morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5530, easing up 0.11%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5423, Friday’s low and a seven-week low and resistance at 1.5594, Monday’s high.
The budget statement was expected to revise down the forecast for U.K. growth significantly, amidst signs that the economic recovery is faltering.
Speaking Monday, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the U.K. economic outlook is significantly weaker than it was three months ago and added that growth looked likely to be flat over the next two quarters as a result of the debt crisis in the euro zone.
Earlier in the day, data from U.K. mortgage lender Nationwide showed that house prices rose unexpectedly this month, climbing 0.4%, confounding expectations for a decline of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, investors remained cautiously optimistic that euro zone finance ministers would approve plans to enlarge the scope of the region’s bailout fund and sign off on Greece’s next tranche of financial aid at a meeting later in the day.
The pound was almost unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to hit 0.8584.
Also Tuesday, the BoE was to release data on net lending to individuals and mortgage approvals, while the U.S. was to release industry data on house price inflation as well as a report on consumer confidence.
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