Investing.com - The pound fell against the U.S. dollar on Monday, pulling back from eight-week highs as the greenback regained some strength after downbeat U.S. data released last week sent the currency broadly lower and as markets eyed upcoming U.K. data on first quarter growth.
GBP/USD hit 1.5131 during European morning trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.5146, sliding 0.28%.
Cable was likely to find support at 1.5025, the low of April 24 and resistance at 1.5256, the high of March 6.
The dollar came under pressure after the Commerce Department reported Friday that orders for durable goods, excluding aircraft, fell 0.5% in March, after a downwardly revised 2.2% drop in February.
The headline figure rose 4.0%, beating expectations for a 0.6% gain, but investors focused on underlying weakness in the report.
The data came after recent weak reports on employment, retail sales and industrial production, adding to signs of a slowdown in economic growth since the start of the year.
The disappointing data led investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Sterling turned lower amid ongoing uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming U.K. general election on May 7, which is likely to result in a hung parliament and an unstable coalition government.
Investors were looking ahead to Tuesday's preliminary estimate on U.K. first quarter growth, which is expected to have eased slightly to an annualized 2.6% from 3.0%.
The pound was boosted last week after Wednesday's minutes of the Bank of England’s April meeting showed that officials see an improved chance that inflation could bounce back more strongly in 2015.
Sterling was steady against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7154.