LONDON: Sterling held in its recent ranges before a service sector survey on Wednesday that should reinforce the positive view of the economy that has underpinned the pound this year but failed to drive it much higher.
Sterling has traded between $1.6583 and $1.6769 for the past two weeks, just below four-year highs above $1.68 hit earlier in February, and some analysts say it may be close to hitting a ceiling.
Many are convinced the bulk of inflows from a sale of US assets by Vodafone has already passed through the market, but the macroeconomic data continues to support the pound.
When analysts are debating what further easing steps the European Central Bank could take on Thursday, there is a firm consensus that the Bank of England's next move is to raise interest rates - possibly as early as the start of next year.
An index of confidence of purchasing managers in the services sector - the biggest chunk of Britain's economy - is seen roughly unchanged at 58.0 in February - still way above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
"We are just happy to play sterling on the strong side against the dollar and euro," said Paul Robson, strategist with RBS in London.
"A stronger pound against the euro is still one of our high conviction plays but people do seem reluctant to take it higher so we may need a stronger impulse - possibly from the ECB on Thursday.
We see it at $1.70 by the end of the quarter."
Most analysts do not believe the ECB will raise rates on Thursday, but there are some speculative bets on markets that it will and there may also be room for a tweaking of its other operations to push more money into the economy.
Like other major currencies, the pound is also subject to a broad play on risk over tensions in Ukraine.
Sterling suffered somewhat on Monday against the dollar on fear of a conflict that would have wide-ranging repercussions for Western European economies, although notably Britain takes its gas supplies from Norway.
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