Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Friday, after the release of disappointing U.K. goods trade data, as sentiment on the greenback remained broadly under pressure amid declining expectations for U.S. rate hike this year.
GBP/USD hit 1.3336 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3301.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.3123, the low of September 1 and resistance at 1.3440, the high of September 7.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics earlier reported that the goods trade deficit narrowed to £11.76 billion in July from £12.92 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £12.41 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to £11.75 billion.
Meanwhile, sentiment on the dollar remained vulnerable after downbeat U.S. employment data published last Friday crushed expectations for an upcoming rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Investors shrugged off data on Thursday showing that U.S. initial jobless claims in the week ending September 3 decreased by 4,000 to a six-week low of 259,000 from the previous week’s total of 263,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 265,000 last week.
Sterling was also steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.8470.
Markets were still digesting the European Central Bank’s most recent policy statement. ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the current monetary policy is effective and the changes to the banks growth forecast are not so substantial as to warrant a decision to act.
The comments came after the central bank left its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.0%, in line with market expectations.
The ECB also raised its 2016 growth forecast to 1.7% from 1.6%, but slightly lowered its 2017 forecast from 1.7% to 1.6%.