Forexpros – The pound erased losses against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after the minutes of the Bank of England’s August meeting showed that policymakers voted unanimously to leave policy unchanged, while better-than-forecast employment data also lent support.
GBP/USD pulled back from 1.5659, the pair’s lowest since Monday, to hit 1.5687 during European morning trade, inching up 0.08%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5604, the low of August 09 and resistance at 1.5716, Monday’s high.
BoE policymakers voted 9 to zero in favor of leaving U.K. interest rates unchanged at 0.5% at its meeting this month and also agreed to leave the quantitative easing program unchanged at GBP375 billion.
Meanwhile, official data showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. fell unexpectedly in July and the nation’s unemployment rate ticked down.
The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 5,900 in July, defying expectations for an increase of 6,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised down to a gain of 1,000 from a previously reported increase of 6,100.
The rate of unemployment unexpectedly ticked down to 8.0% from 8.1% in June, against expectations for no change.
The data came one day after a report showing that consumer price inflation in the U.K. unexpectedly accelerated to 2.6% in July from 2.4% the previous month.
The pound inched higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.03% to 0.7857.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release official data on consumer price inflation and industrial production, as well as a report on manufacturing activity in the New York area.
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