On Monday the pound fell against the U.S. dollar, pulling back from
eight-week highs as the greenback regained some strength after downbeat
U.S. data released last week sent the currency broadly lower and as
markets eyed upcoming U.K. data on first quarter growth.
GBP/USD hit 1.5131 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5146, sliding 0.28%. Cable was likely to find support at 1.5025, the low of April 24 and resistance at 1.5256, the high of March 6.
The dollar was vulnerable after the Commerce Department reported Friday that orders for durable goods, excluding aircraft, fell 0.5% in March, after a downwardly revised 2.2% drop in February.
The headline figure rose 4.0%, beating expectations for a 0.6% gain, but investors focused on underlying weakness in the report.
Sterling was heavily impacted by uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming U.K. general election on May 7, which is likely to result in a hung parliament and an unstable coalition government.
Investors were looking ahead to Tuesday's preliminary estimate on U.K. first quarter growth, which is expected to have eased slightly to an annualized 2.6% from 3.0%.
Last week the pound received a boost after Wednesday's minutes of the Bank of England’s April meeting showed that officials see an improved chance that inflation could bounce back more strongly in 2015.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7154.
