Forexpros - The pound remained higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as lowered expectations for more easing by the Bank of England continued to support demand for sterling, while investors turned to the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy statement.
GBP/USD hit 1.6048 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's highest since October 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.6023, climbing 0.45%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5914, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.6067, the high of October 17.
Demand for the pound was underpinned after comments by BoE Governor Mervyn King dampened expectations for more easing by the central bank.
In a speech late Tuesday, Governor King said policymakers would have to think "long and hard" before implementing further quantitative easing measures.
Investors were anticipating preliminary data on U.K. economic growth on Thursday, amid expectations that the report will show that the economy expanded in the third quarter, following three successive quarters of contraction.
Investors remained cautious however, after data earlier showed that the flash euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 45.3 in October from a final reading of 46.1 in September, fuelling fears over the deepening economic impact of the region’s long-running debt crisis.
Separately, a report by German research institute Ifo showed that its closely watched business climate index deteriorated to its lowest level since March 2010 this month.
The pound was also higher against the euro with EUR/GBP shedding 0.64%, to hit 0.8088.
Also Wednesday, market research group Markit said that its preliminary manufacturing PMI rose less-than-expected in October, ticking up to 51.3 from a final reading of 51.1 in September, which was the lowest in three years.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve was to announce its benchmark interest rate and release its first monetary policy statement since the central bank announced a third round of quantitative easing in September.
