Forexpros – The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as market sentiment came under strong pressure after comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi disappointed expectations for bold stimulus measures.
GBP/USD hit 1.5623 during U.S. morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5549, adding 0.09%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5457, the low of July 24 and resistance at 1.5689, Wednesday’s high.
Sentiment broadly weakened after Draghi said the ECB may undertake bond purchases in order to bring down the “exceptionally high” borrowing costs of stressed euro zone members, but provided no explicit details on how and when these activities may be carried out.
The statement disappointed market expectations for bold steps to counter the debt crisis in the euro zone, which have been building since Draghi pledged last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro.
The ECB left interest rates unchanged at a record low 0.75% earlier.
Meanwhile, the pound remained supported after the Bank of England left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5% and kept the size of its quantitative easing program at GBP375 billion.
Earlier in the day, data showed that the U.K. construction sector unexpectedly returned to growth in July, as the Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index recovered to 50.9 from 48.2 in June, defying expectations for a decline to 48.0.
The data came one day after a report showing that manufacturing activity in the U.K. contracted at the fastest pace in more than three years in July, fuelling expectations for another round of easing by the central bank in the coming months.
Elsewhere, the pound was higher against the euro with EUR/GBP shedding 0.23%, to hit 0.7852.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 365,000, from an upwardly revised 357,000 in the preceding week.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 370,000 last week.
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