Investing.com - A double shot of upbeat U.S. growth numbers and a soft U.S. housing report sent the pound firming against the dollar on Friday.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was up 0.41% at 1.6097, up from a session low of 1.6018 and off a high of 1.6099.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5993, Thursday's low, and resistance at 1.6186, Tuesday's high.
The dollar dipped after the Census Bureau reported earlier that U.S. new home sales rose 0.2% in September to 467,000 units, missing expectations for an increase to 470,000 units.
The August figure was downwardly revised to a 15.3% climb to 466,000 units from a previously estimated 18.0% jump to 504,000 units, and the data weakened the dollar against the euro, as while the Federal Reserve is widely seen closing its bond-buying program this month, the timing of rate hikes in 2015 remains unclear.
Still, the dollar didn't plunge, as a longer-range view of economic indicators still points to a sustained U.S. recovery, including in the housing sector.
Earlier in the week, the National Association of Realtors reported that U.S. existing home sales increased 2.4% to a 5.17 million units last month from 5.05 million in August. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1% to 5.10 million units in September.
Meanwhile in the U.K., the Office for National Statistics said the U.K.'s preliminary gross domestic product rose 0.7% in the third quarter, in line with expectations, after a 0.9% increase in the three months to June.
Year-on-year, Britain's GDP rose at an annualized rate of 3.0% in the last quarter, also in line with expectations, down from a 3.2% growth rate in the second quarter.
Elsewhere, sterling was up against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.21% at 0.7872, and up against the yen, with GBP/JPY up 0.22% at 173.97.