Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, trading close to recent multi-month lows after data showed that U.K. house prices rose as expected this month and after the Federal Reserve indicated that interest rates could start to rise around mid-year.
GBP/USD hit 1.5110 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5128.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.4973, the low of January 26 and resistance at 1.5223, the high of January 27.
In a report, the Nationwide Building Society said that U.K. house price inflation rose 0.3% this month, in line with expectations, after a 0.2% uptick in December.
Year-on-year, U.K. house prices rose 6.8% in January, exceeding expectations for an increase of 6.6%, after a 7.2% gain the previous month.
In the U.S., the Fed said on Wednesday that it would keep rates on hold at least until June and reiterated its pledge to be patient on raising interest rates, while acknowledging the solid economic recovery and strong growth in the labor market.
The central bank also said it expected inflation to keep declining in the short term and added that it would take "financial and international developments" into account before deciding when to hike borrowing costs.
Sterling was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP adding 0.18% to 0.7470.
In the euro zone, Germany's Federal Statistics Office said the number of unemployed people fell by 9,000 this month, compared to expectations for a drop of 10,000.
Jobless claims decreased by 25,000 in December, whose figure was revised from a previously reported fall of 27,000.
The report also showed that Germany’s unemployment rate dipped to 6.5% in January from 6.6% in December, in line with expectations.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as private sector data on pending home sales.