Forex Pros – The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, pulling away from a two-day high after government data showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. posted the largest jump in two years in June.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.5990, the pair’s highest since Monday, to hit 1.5950 during European afternoon trade, still up 0.24% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5780, Tuesday’s low and a five-and-a-half month low and resistance at 1.6041, Monday’s high.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 24,500 last month, far more than the expected 15,000 increase.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.7%, in line with expectations.
A separate report showed that U.K. average earnings increased slightly more-than-expected in the second quarter, rising 2.3%. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2.1%.
The pound remained supported after official data showed earlier that Chinese gross domestic product expanded by 9.5% in the second quarter, easing concerns over a sharp slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Meanwhile, the pound was down against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.49% to hit 0.8826.
Later in the day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to give testimony on the U.S. economic outlook before lawmakers in Washington and was likely to be asked why the central bank’s current stimulus measures have not been more effective in reducing unemployment.
Forexpros
