Investing.com - The pound held steady against the U.S. dollar on Friday, hovering close to one-month lows as a recent string of positive U.S. economic reports continued to push the greenback broadly higher.
GBP/USD hit 1.6998 during U.S. morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6991, inching up 0.04%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.6966, the low of June 25 and resistance at 1.7053, Thursday's high.
The greenback found support after official data showed that U.S. durable goods orders rose 0.7% last month, beating expectations for a 0.5% gain, after a decline of 1% in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.9% fall.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, advanced by 0.8% in June, compared to expectations for a 0.6% rise, after a 0.1% downtick in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated flat reading.
The data came after a report on Thursday showed that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level in more than eight years last week, fuelling speculation over the timing of a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Earlier Friday, preliminary data showed that the U.K. gross domestic product rose 0.8% in the second quarter, in line with market expectations.
Sterling was higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.22% to 0.7908.
In the euro zone, the Ifo Institute for Economic Research reported that its German business climate index fell to a nine-month low of 108.0 this month, from a reading of 109.7 in June. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 109.4 in July.
A separate report showed that the Gfk German consumer climate index rose to a seven-and-a-half year high of 9.0 this month, from a reading of 8.9 in June. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged in July.