Forexpros – The pound rose to a nine-day high against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as investors hoped that a round of loans from the European Central Bank would ease concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone.
GBP/USD hit 1.5742 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since December 8; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5743, rising 0.51%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5609, the low of December 8 and resistance at 1.5826, the high of November 16.
Investors were waiting for the ECB’s first offer of three-year loans later in the day, as many hoped it will help the region’s banks lower their funding costs and avoid a liquidity shortage in the euro zone.
More than 10 Italian banks were expected to apply for the loans by using state-guaranteed bonds as collateral.
Sterling found support on Tuesday after a successful Spanish bond auction, as well as an unexpected improvement in German business sentiment and upbeat U.S. housing data.
The pound shrugged off a report by Gfk showing that an index of consumer confidence in the U.K. declined unexpectedly to minus 33 in December from a reading at minus 31 the previous month.
Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged in December.
Meanwhile, sterling was steady against the euro with EUR/GBP edging up 0.01%, to hit 0.8353.
Later in the day, the Bank of England was to release the minutes of its most recent policy setting meeting as well as data on public sector net borrowing.
In the U.S., industry data was to be published on existing home sales.
Forexpros
