Forex - GBP/USD almost unchanged near 1-week lows
Investing.com
Published May 04, 2015 04:53AM ET
Pound holds steady against dollar, U.K. markets closed
Investing.com - The pound was almost unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading close to one-week lows as demand for the greenback remained supported after Friday's upbeat U.S. data and as investors eyed the upcoming U.K. election.
Trading volumes were expected to remain thin with U.K. markets closed for a national holiday.
GBP/USD hit 1.5175 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5146.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5025, the low of April 24 and resistance at 1.5266, the high of April 27.
The dollar regained some ground after a report by the Institute for Supply Management on Friday showed that activity in the manufacturing sector was stable in April, after slowing in the five previous months.
Another report showed that U.S. consumer sentiment rose in April to its highest level since January.
The reports fuelled optimism that the U.S. economy has turned a corner after a recent soft patch.
Investors were eyeing the outcome of the upcoming general U.K. elections on May 7, which could result in a hung parliament and an unstable coalition government, which could act as a drag on growth.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP dropping 0.41% to 0.7360.
In the euro zone, market research group Markit said the final purchasing manager's index rose to 52.0 in April from 51.9 the previous month, beating expectations for an unchanged reading.
Germany's final manufacturing PMI rose to 52.1 last month from 51.9 in March, while France's manufacturing PMI ticked down to 48.0 in April from 48.4 the previous month.
A separate report showed that the Sentix index of investor confidence for the euro zone fell to 19.6 this month, from a reading of 20.0 in April. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 19.8 in May.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on factory orders.
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Written By: Investing.com
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