Investing.com - The pound edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as upbeat U.S. home sales data lent support to the greenback and markets continued to monitor developments in Ukraine and the Middle East.
GBP/USD hit 1.7050 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since July 17; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.7049, edging down 0.17%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.7037, the low of July 18 and resistance at 1.7118, the high of July 18.
The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased 2.6% to 5.04 million units last month from 4.91 million in May. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 2% to 4.97 million units in June.
The data came after the U.S. Department of Labor said that consumer prices rose by 0.3% last month, meeting estimates, after rising 0.4% in May.
Year-over-year, consumer prices rose at an annualized rate of 2.1% in June, in line with expectations and unchanged from May.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs, inched up 0.1% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.2% gain. Core consumer prices rose 0.3% in May.
Earlier Tuesday, official data showed that the U.K. public finances showed a bigger than expected deficit in June. The U.K. borrowed £11.38 billion last month, compared to expectations for a deficit of £10.66 billion. In the same month last year, the U.K. borrowed £7.59 billion.
In a separate report, the Confederation of British Industry said that its index for industrial order expectations declined to 2 this month, from a reading of 11 in June, compared to expectations for a fall to 8.
Market sentiment mildly recovered on Tuesday, but investors continued to eye heightened tensions between the West and Russia following the downing of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine late last week, while Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza also remained in focus.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.28% to 0.7897.