On Wednesday the pound dropped to more than one-week lows against the dollar, despite the data indicating that the U.K. manufacturing sector
expanded at the fastest rate in eight months in March.
Sterling was vulnerable as political uncertainty ahead of the U.K.'s May 7 election put pressure on the currency.
GBP/USD was last down 0.38% to 1.4758 from around 1.4822 earlier.
The pound was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP up 0.42% to 0.7273 from 0.7242 earlier. The euro was higher after data showing manufacturing activity across the euro zone grew at the fastest pace since last May in March indicated that the recovery in the region is continuing to gain traction.
Research group Markit said euro zone manufacturing PMI rose to a 10-month high of 52.2, higher than the preliminary reading of 51.9.
In the UK, Markit said its manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 54.4 in March from 54.0 in February, driven by strong domestic demand, while economists had forecast an increase to 54.3.
The report showed that output in the U.K. manufacturing sector grew by 0.6% in the quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, after 0.2% growth in the same period last year.
New export orders rose at the fastest rate since August after contracting in February, while input prices continued to decline, due to the recent steep drop in oil prices the report said.
“The sector is on course for output growth ranging around 0.6% over the opening quarter as a whole, a positive contribution to broader economic expansion and its best performance since the first half of last year," Rob Dobson, senior economist at survey compiler Markit said.
Sentiment on the greenback continued to be supported as investors turned their attention to the latest U.S. jobs report, due to be released on Friday, which was expected to support expectations for higher interest rates.
Later in the day, the U.S. is expected to release the ADP report on private sector jobs growth.
