Investing.com - The pound trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, supported by signs that the Bank of England is moving closer to a rate hike, although similar expectations in the U.S. continued to underpin demand for the greenback.
GBP/USD pulled away from 1.6276, the pair's lowest since September 18, to hit 1.6338 during U.S. morning trade, still down 0.02%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6244, the low of September 18 and resistance at 1.6416, Wednesday's high.
The pound strengthened after BoE Governor Mark Carney said that the argument for when to raise borrowing costs "has become more balanced."
Speaking at conference in Wales, Mr. Carney said that "with many of the conditions for the economy to normalize now met, the point at which interest rates also begin to normalize is getting closer."
"While there is always uncertainty about the future, you can expect interest rates to begin to increase," he added.
Also in the U.K., the Confederation of British Industry earlier reported that its index of realized sales fell to 31 this month, from a reading of 37 in August, compared to expectations for a decline to 30.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said that the U.S. central bank may start raising interest rates around the spring of 2015.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending September 20 increased by 12,000 to 293,000, from the previous week's revised total of 281,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 19,000 to 300,000 last week.
Separately, official data showed that U.S. durable goods orders dropped by 18.2% in August, after a revised increase of 22.5% in July. Analysts had expected durable goods orders to decline by 18.0% last month.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, rose 0.7% last month, in line with expectations, after a 0.5% fall in July.
Sterling was near two-year highs against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.35% to 0.7795.
The euro came under broad selling pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reiterated on Thursday the bank's commitment to act with more policy measures to boost inflation in the euro zone.
On Wednesday, Mario Draghi had already vowed to keep monetary policy "accommodative" for as long as needed, and to use every tool at the ECB's disposal to fight deflation.