Investing.com - The pound erased gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, even as data showed that U.K. construction sector activity expanded at the fastest rate in eight months in September, as markets eyed the release of U.S. employment data on Friday.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.6251, the session high, to hit 1.6177 during European morning trade, down 0.04%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6097, the low of September 8 and resistance at 1.6288, the high of September 30.
In a report, Markit research group said the U.K. construction purchasing managers' index increased to 64.2 last month from a reading of 64.0 in August. Economists had expected the index to fall to 63.5 in September.
Commenting on the report, Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit and author the report, said, “U.K. construction firms experienced a sustained and strong output recovery during September, in contrast to the weakening picture seen across the manufacturing sector at the end of this summer."
Investors were looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which was expected to show that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth successive month in August.
A report by payroll processor ADP on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added 213,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 210,000.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP adding 0.21% to 0.7816.
Also Thursday, official data showed that the number of unemployed people in Spain rose by 19,700 last month, compared to expectations for an increase of 31,300, after a 8,100 rise in August.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on jobless claims.