Forexpros – The pound was steady against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, ahead of a second liquidity operation by the European Central Bank and after better-than-expected U.K. realized sales data.
GBP/USD hit 1.5876 during European afternoon trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5850, adding 0.16%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5796, the low of February 8 and resistance at 1.5898, the high of February 24.
Sentiment strengthened earlier as markets looked ahead to Wednesday’s launch of the ECB’s second three-year long-term refinancing operation, after a similar liquidity injection in December averted a credit crunch eased pressure on peripheral euro zone bond markets.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s long term credit rating to ‘selective default’ after the country embarked on a debt swap deal with its private creditors.
In the U.K., the Confederation of British Industry reported that retail sale volumes improved significantly in February, after tumbling to the lowest level since March 2009 in January.
The report showed that the CBI index of realized sales improved to minus 2 from minus 22, beating expectations for a reading at minus 17.
Elsewhere, the pound was lower against the euro with EUR/GBP rising 0.27%, to hit 0.8489.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce official data on durable goods orders, as well as industry data on house price inflation and consumer confidence.
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