Forex - GBP/USD steady near 4-month highs

The pound was steady close to four-month highs against the dollar on Thursday as uncertainty over the future of central bank stimulus sent the dollar lower across the board.

GBP/USD hit 1.5701 during European morning trade, the pair’s highest since February 11; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5662, dipping 0.08%.

Cable was likely to find support at 1.5632, Wednesday’s low and near-term resistance at 1.5701, the session high and a four-month high.

European equities markets were sharply lower on Thursday, following on from sharp losses in the Asian session, as fears over the prospect of an end to central bank stimulus fuelled a broad based sell-off in risk assets and the dollar.

Earlier this week the Bank of Japan disappointed expectations for measures to ease volatility in the government bond market. The BoJ’s lack of action, along with expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin to scale back its bond buying program has fuelled widespread risk aversion.

The pound remained supported after upbeat U.K. employment data on Wednesday bolstered optimism over the outlook for second quarter economic growth.

Elsewhere, sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.16% to 0.8520 and fell to two-month lows against the broadly stronger yen, with GBP/JPY tumbling 1.93% to 147.57.

The U.S. was to release official data on retail sales and the weekly government report on initial jobless claims later in the trading day.

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