On Thursday the British currency dropped impacted by
disappointing retail sales data from the U.K. and as the previous
session's U.S. home sales data continued to lend support to the greenback.
GBP/USD hit 1.4960 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5008, sliding 0.19%. Cable was likely to find support at 1.4852, the low of April 21 and resistance at 1.5080, Wednesday's high.
U.K. retail sales fell 0.5% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.4% rise and after a downwardly revised increase of 0.6% in February, as the Office for National Statistics said in a report.
U.K. retail sales rose 4.2% in March on a year-on-year basis, disappointing expectations for a 5.4% gain, following a 5.4% climb the previous month. Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles and fuel, rose 0.2% in April - less than the expected 0.4% increase.
Another report indicated that U.K. public sector net borrowing fell to £6.74 billion in March from £4.80 billion in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated £6.22 billion. Analysts had expected public sector net borrowing to rise to £7.00 billion last month.
Although the gains were limited, the dollar was supported after the U.S. National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that existing home sales rose 6.1% last month to 5.19 million units from a revised total units of 4.89 million. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 3.0% in March.
Sterling was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.25% to 0.7152.
In the euro area, Markit, a market research group, said that the euro zone's composite purchasing managers' index, which includes manufacturing activity and services, fell to 53.5 this month from 54.0 in March, compared to expectations for a rise to 54.4.
Germany's manufacturing PMI ticked down to 54.2 this month from a reading of 55.4 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 54.4 in April from 55.4 the previous month.
France's manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 this month from 48.8 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 50.8 in April from a reading of 52.4 the previous month.
The U.S. was to report on initial jobless claims and new home sales later in the global trading day.
