On Thursday the UK currency dipped to 18-month lows against the U.S. dollar, as
demand for the greenback continued to receive broad support, while
investors eyed the Bank of England's upcoming policy statement due later
in the day.
GBP/USD hit 1.5034 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since July 2013; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5056, declining 0.36%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.4812 and resistance at 1.5156, Wednesday's high.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7836.
The greenback continued to be underpinned after a report on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added a larger-then-forecast 241,000 jobs in December.
The positive data spurred the outlook for the U.S. recovery and raised expectations for a strong reading of the government nonfarm payrolls due on Friday.
Yesterday's minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting did little to alter expectations that U.S. interest rates will start to rise later this year.
In the meantime, the pound remained under pressure as a recent string of weak U.S. economic reports underlined expectations that the Bank of England will keep rates on hold for most of 2015.
Market participants were eyeing the BoE's monthly policy statement, due later in the trading session and expected to give further indications on the central bank's next monetary policy moves.
The U.S. is to produce its weekly report on initial jobless claims later in the day.
