Investing.com - The pound was steady close to recent three-month highs against the dollar on Tuesday as upbeat Chinese data supported market sentiment, while the dollar remained under pressure following the latest U.S. jobs report. GBP/USD hit 1.5712 during European morning trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5700, inching up 0.04%. Cable was likely to find support at 1.5635 and near-term resistance at 1.5731, Monday’s high and the highest since June 18. Risk appetite was boosted after reports on industrial production and retail sales from China added to signs that the world’s second largest economy is recovering from a slowdown. Data released on Tuesday showed that Chinese retail sales rose unexpectedly in August, while Chinese industrial production rose more than forecast last month. Market sentiment was also boosted after U.S. President Barack Obama said he would put plans for a military strike against Syria on hold if the country agrees to a Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control. The dollar remained on the back foot after the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday showed that the economy added slightly fewer jobs than expected in August. The soft data raised some doubts over whether the Federal Reserve will start to unwind its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program at its upcoming policy meeting on September 17-18. Sterling was slightly higher against the euro, with EUR/GBP slipping 0.11% to 0.8436.

Source