Investing.com - The dollar firmed against the pound on Thursday after data revealed fewer sought first-time jobless benefits in the U.S. last week than markets were expecting.
In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was trading down 0.22% at 1.7121, up from a session low of 1.7105 and off a high of 1.7168.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.7086, Wednesday's low, and resistance at 1.7180, last Friday's high.
Elsewhere, sterling was down against the euro, with EUR/GBP up 0.08% at 0.7950, and down against the yen, with GBP/JPY down 0.34% at 173.87.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 5 declined by 11,000 to 304,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to hold steady at 315,000 last week.
The numbers fueled demand for the greenback on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its June policy meeting that forecast an end to stimulus program coming in October.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, the Bank of England left rates on hold at 0.5% and kept the size of its asset purchase program unchanged at £375 billion.
The pound weakened against the dollar after official data showed that the U.K. trade deficit widened unexpectedly in May.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the U.K. trade deficit widened to £9.2 billion in May from a deficit of £8.81 billion in April. Economists had expected a deficit of £8.75 billion.
Elsewhere, sterling was up against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.09% at 0.7944, and down against the yen, with GBP/JPY down 0.55% at 173.43.