Investing.com - The pound slid to the days lows on Wednesday after data showing that growth in the dominant UK service sector slowed to its lowest in four months in June.
GBP/USD was down 0.13% to 1.2899 by 08.57 AM GMT (04.57 ET).
Financial data firm Markit said its services purchasing managers' index ticked down to a four-month low of 53.4 in June from 53.8 in May, just below economists’ forecasts for a reading of 53.5.
The report also showed that UK business optimism fell to its lowest level since last June’s EU referendum amid worries over heightened political uncertainty after last month’s election and the Brexit negotiations.
Markit said it saw a weak outlook for the economy, despite "pockets of growth" in financial services and business services.
Taken along with the other disappointing PMI data on manufacturing and construction earlier in the week, the figures indicate that Britain’s economy may slow in the coming months.
“A slowing in services sector growth completes a triple-whammy of disappointing PMI survey readings,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at Markit.
“Given the deterioration in the forward-looking indicators, such as business optimism and order book growth, the risks are tilted towards the economy slowing in the third quarter.”
The rate of economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter as consumers were hit by slowing wage growth and accelerating inflation due to the steep drop in sterling since the Brexit vote.
The pound was little changed against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.8779.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, edged up 0.11% to 96.09.
The Federal Reserve was due to release minutes from its June policy meeting later in the day. Investors were awaiting fresh cues on the future path of U.S. interest rates ahead of Friday’s key jobs report.