Investing.com - The pound was little changed against the dollar on Tuesday after data showing that the U.K. trade deficit widened in the final quarter of 2015, despite improving in December, and is likely to have acted as a drag on growth.
GBP/USD was at 1.4444, from around 1.4431 ahead of the report.
The Office for National Statistics said the total trade deficit widened to £10.3 billion in the fourth quarter from £8.5 billion pounds in the previous quarter, marking the biggest trade gap since the start of 2015.
The annual trade deficit widened to £34.7 billion in 2015, up from £0.3 billion in 2014.
Trade is likely to appear as a drag on economic growth when revised figures for fourth quarter gross domestic product are released, the ONS said.
In December, the total U.K. trade deficit, including services, narrowed to £2.7 billion from £4.031 billion, helped by the value of oil imports falling to their lowest since February 2009 amid a steep drop in oil prices.
Sterling was slightly higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP easing 0.14% to 0.7745.
In the euro zone, data on Tuesday showed that German industrial output unexpectedly fell 1.2% in December, indicating that the region’s economy ended 2015 on a weak footing.
Overall market sentiment remained subdued as fears over the health of the global economy and the financial sector weighed.
London’s FTSE 100 regained some ground but remained close to three year lows set on Monday.
Global stocks have been hard hit since the start of the year by a combination of fears over slowing global growth, more widespread use of negative interest rates and a prolonged depression in the commodity sector.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last at 96.66 not far from overnight lows of 96.33.