Investing.com - The pound rose against the dollar on Thursday on hopes Scots voting on their independence will opt to stick with the U.K. and forego secession.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was up 0.60% at 1.6374, up from a session low of 1.6426 and off a high of 1.6408.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6160, Tuesday's low, and resistance at 1.6644, the high from Sept. 1.
Scots were heading to the polls on Thursday to vote on their independence in a referendum, with investors taking up positions betting that voters will decide to remain part of the U.K.
Sterling firmed earlier after the final Ipsos Mori opinion poll of the referendum campaign showed the no vote was slightly ahead at 53%, while support for the yes vote was at 47%.
Past polls found the yes and no camps trading places at 51% versus 49%, and the latest survey suggested the no campaign was advancing.
Mixed U.S. economic indicators softened the dollar, meanwhile.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Sept. 13 fell by 36,000 to 280,000, the lowest level since mid-July, from the previous week’s revised total of 316,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 305,000 last week.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month dropped by 5.6% to 998,000 units from July’s total of 1.057 million.
Analysts expected building permits to fall by 0.4% to 1.045 million units in August.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts tumbled by 14.4% last month to hit 956,000 units from July’s total of 1.117 million units, confounding expectations for an increase to 1.040 million.
The data came a day after the Fed reiterated that it expects interest rates to remain at rock-bottom levels for a "considerable time" after its bond-purchasing program ends.
Elsewhere, sterling was up against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.19% at 0.7889, and up against the yen, with GBP/JPY up 0.91% at 177.95.