Investing.com - The pound edged lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as a disappointing retail sales report from the U.K. weighed on demand for sterling.
GBP/USD hit 1.6003 during European morning trade, the pair's lowest since October 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6004, shedding 0.29%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5940, the low of October 16 and resistance at 1.6132, Wednesday's high.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said retail sales decreased 0.3% last month, disappointing forecasts for a decline of 0.1%. August retail sales rose by 0.4%.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose at an annualized rate of 2.7% in September, below expectations for a 2.8% gain, after rising at a rate of 3.7% in August.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, fell 0.3% last month, worse than forecasts for a 0.2% decline, after rising 0.3% the previous month.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. consumer price index ticked up 0.1% last month from August, while core consumer prices, which exclude energy and food costs, also rose 0.1%.
Sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP gaining 0.36% to 0.7909.
The euro found support after data showed that manufacturing output expanded at the fastest rate in three months, while growth of service sector activity was unchanged from September.
Research group Markit said its preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked up to 50.7 this month from a final reading of 50.3 in September. Analysts had expected the index to slide to 49.9.
The services PMI held steady at 52.4, slightly above expectations of 52.0.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims.