Forex - GBP/USD falls on U.K. growth data, U.S. jobless claims

Softer-than-expected U.K. growth numbers coupled with a better-than-expected report on U.S. jobless claims sent the pound weakening in front of the dollar on Thursday.

In U.S. trading on Thursday, GBP/USD was trading at 1.6038, down 0.26%, up from a session low of 1.6000 and off from a high of 1.6096.

Cable was likely to find support at 1.5980, Wednesday's low, and resistance at 1.6163, the high from Sept. 18.

The pound softened after official data revealed that the U.K.'s gross domestic product expanded by 0.7% in the second quarter, in line with market expectations. 

On a yearly basis, however, the U.K. economy rose 1.3% in the three months to June, missing expectations for a 1.5% increase. 

A separate report showed that the U.K. current account deficit narrowed less than expected in the last quarter, coming in at GBP13 billion from a GBP21.8 billion deficit in the three months to March. 

Analysts had expected the current account deficit to narrow to GBP12 billion in the second quarter.

Meanwhile in the U.S., the U.S. Department of Labor said that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless claims in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 20 fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 305,000, from a downwardly revised 310,000 the previous week. 

Analysts were expecting the figure to rise to 325,000, which gave the dollar support by rekindling expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin tapering the pace of its monthly bond purchases, which weaken the dollar by driving down interest rates to spur recovery.

Capping the greenback's advances, however, was an industry report released earlier showing that U.S. pending home sales dropped 1.6% in August, more than an expected 1.0% decline following a downwardly revised 1.4% contraction the previous month. 

Also on Thursday, official data showed that the U.S. economy expanded by 2.5% in the second quarter, just shy of expectations for a 2.6% expansion. 

The pound, meanwhile, was up against the euro and up against the yen, with EUR/GBP down 0.05% at 0.8407 and GBP/JPY up 0.14% at 158.51.

On Friday, the U.S. is to round up the week with revised data on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations from the University of Michigan as well as data on personal income and expenditure.