Pound lower vs dollar, despite strong UK data; sentiment on greenback is fragile

The British currency remained moderately lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as an upbeat report on U.K. construction activity failed to boost investor confidence regarding the strength of the country's economy.

GBP/USD hit 1.4990 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since January 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5018, slipping 0.17%. The pair was likely to find support at 1.4947, the low of January 23 and resistance at 1.5087, Monday's high, says Investing.com.

Markit - markets research organization - and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply said that their U.K. construction purchasing managers' index increased to 59.1 last month from a reading of 57.6 in December. Economists had expected the index to dip to 57.0 in January.

A day earlier Markit said that its U.K. manufacturing PMI rose to 53.0 last month from a reading of 52.5 in December, while economists had expected the index to inch up to 52.6 in January.

Rob Dobson, senior economist at survey compiler Markit, commented that "at this rate, the sector will provide little meaningful boost to the economy in the first quarter."

Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP adding 0.13% to 0.7552.

In the euro zone, Spain’s Employment Ministry earlier announced that the number of unemployed people increased by 78,000 last month, disappointing expectations for a drop of 32,400. The number of unemployed people dropped by 64,400 in December.

At the same time, sentiment on the dollar remained vulnerable after data on Monday showed that U.S. consumer spending fell at the fastest rate since September 2009 in December, dropping 0.3% as households saved on cheaper gasoline prices. Separate reports showed that U.S. construction spending rose less than expected in December, while manufacturing growth slowed.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on factory orders.