Investing.com - The pound remained near seven-month highs against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as the release of upbeat U.K. employment data and expectations for the Bank of England to lower interest rates sooner than expected continued to support demand for sterling.
GBP/USD hit 1.5826 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's highest since February 8; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5795, gaining 0.40%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5717, the session low and resistance at 1.5860.
The pound strengthened earlier, after the Office for National Statistics said the rate of unemployment in the U.K. ticked down to 7.7% in July from 7.8% in June. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
Last month, the BoE pledged to keep interest rates on hold at current record low levels until the unemployment rate falls below 7%, something that bank does not see for another three years.
The ONS said the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell by 32,600 in August, better than expectations for a decline of 22,000 people.
The previous month’s figure was revised to a drop of 36,300 people from a previously reported decrease of 29,200.
Sterling was higher against the euro with EUR/GBP shedding 0.23%, to hit 0.8414.
In the euro zone, the head of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said in a speech on Wednesday that a recovery is in sight and reiterated his call for the implementation of banking reforms, starting with the 'single supervisory mechanism'.
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