Forex - Pound slips lower vs. dollar in thin trade

The pound slipped lower against the dollar in thin trade on Monday, with public holidays in the U.S. and France keeping trading volumes low.

GBP/USD was down 0.30% to 1.5965 from Friday’s close of 1.6017 during European afternoon trade.

Cable was likely to find support at 1.5902, the low of November 11 and resistance at 1.6020, the session high.

Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after official data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, significantly higher than the 125,000 expected by economists. 

The report came on the heels of data showing that the U.S. economy expanded by a larger-than-forecast 2.8% in the third quarter.

The upbeat data indicated that the U.S. economy shrugged off the impact of the government shutdown and raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve may start winding down its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program as soon as its next monthly meeting in December.

Sterling remained under pressure after weak U.K. trade data on Friday raised concerns that third quarter growth would be dragged down. Preliminary data released last month showed that the U.K. economy expanded by 0.8% in the third quarter.

The pound was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP rising 0.52% to 0.8388, up from Friday’s close of 0.8343, after falling to a 10-month low of 0.8299 on Thursday.