Forexpros – The pound trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, ahead of the release of U.S. data on job creation, while markets continued to await the conclusion of a Greek private sector debt swap deal.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.5758, the session high, to hit 1.5722 during European afternoon trade, up just 0.04% on the day.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5695, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.5813, the high of February 22.
Investors remained wary ahead of Thursday’s deadline for Greece’s private creditors to sign up to a bond swap deal, which is aimed at writing down 53.5% of the country’s EUR177 billion debt.
A participation rate of more than 75% of creditors is required for Greece to secure a EUR130 billion bailout in order to avoid a default when a bond repayment due on March 20.
On Tuesday, Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos strongly urged private sector creditors to take part in the debt swap deal and warned that bond-holders who rejected the deal would not be paid out later.
Market sentiment was dented after a report earlier showed that German factory orders fell unexpectedly in January. In addition, official data showing that Australia’s economy grew less-than-expected in the last three months of 2011 contributed to the weak tone.
The pound was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP edging up 0.04% to hit 0.8346.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a report on ADP non-farm payrolls which precedes government data non-farm payrolls by two days. The U.S. was also to release revised data on non-farm productivity and labor costs, as well as a report on crude oil stockpiles.
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