Investing.com - The pound was little changed against the dollar on Thursday, holding below four-and-a-half year highs hit last week after the latest Bank of England minutes indicated uncertainty among officials about slack in the economy and the inflation outlook.
GBP/USD was last trading at 1.6789, after touching lows of 1.6761 on Wednesday. The pair reached peaks of 1.6840 late last week, the most since November 2009.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6750 and resistance at 1.6840.
Sterling weakened against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday after the minutes of the BoE’s April meeting showed that the members of the Monetary Policy Committee were “uncertain” about the amount of slack remaining in the economy and also held differing views on the outlook for inflation over the medium term.
The annual rate of U.K. inflation dropped to 1.6% in March from 1.7% the previous month, the lowest level since October 2009.
The minutes also showed that MPC members voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a record low 0.5%.
Demand for the pound continued to be underpinned by expectations that the BoE could raise interest rates in the early part of next year.
Expectations for a rate hike were boosted last week after data showed that the U.K. unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 6.9% in the three months to February, while wage growth also accelerated.
Sterling was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP edging up 0.10% to 0.8241.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile ahead of a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later in the session, after the ECB chief warned earlier this month that further gains in the currency would trigger additional monetary easing to keep inflation from falling.
Meanwhile, German research institute Ifo reported Thursday that its business climate index rose to a two-month high of 111.2 this month from 110.7 in March, ahead of expectations for 110.5.