Investing.com - The pound held modest gains against the dollar on Thursday after data showed that U.K. retail sales rose in line with forecasts in August, as investors awaited the outcome of Scotland’s closely watched independence referendum.
GBP/USD was up 0.20% to 1.6308, holding below Wednesday’s highs of 1.6357.
Cable was likely to find support at around the 1.6220 level and resistance at 1.6360.
U.K. retail sales rose 0.4% in August and were 3.9% higher on a year-over-year basis, the Office for National Statistics reported.
Sales of household good sales jumped 12.7% from a year earlier, bolstered by sales of high powered vacuum cleaners ahead of a European Union ban on powerful electrical appliances.
Sentiment on the British currency remained fragile as Scotland went to the polls to vote in its independence referendum.
Sterling remained supported after the latest opinion polls indicated that support for the no vote was narrowly in the lead, but polls also indicated that the result was too close to call.
The pound dropped to 10 month lows against the dollar last week as uncertainty over what currency an independent Scotland would use, as well as concerns over how much of the U.K. national debt it would take on rattled financial markets.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after the Federal Reserve offered fresh guidance on its plans to raise interest rates after its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed statement reiterated that it expects rates to remain on hold for a "considerable time", after its bond purchasing program ends, but it outlined in more detail how it will start to raise short term interest rates when the time comes.
The Fed cut its monthly asset purchase program by another $10 billion, keeping the program on track to finish next month.
Speaking at the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference Chair Janet Yellen stressed that the timing of any change in interest rates is dependent on the strength of the economic recovery.
Elsewhere, the pound was unchanged against the euro, with EUR/GBP at 0.7907.