Sterling hovered near a three-month low against the dollar on Thursday, struggling to stay above key technical support after a downward revision to UK growth the previous day kept the pound under selling pressure. Sterling hit multi-year troughs against the high-yielding Australian dollar and the safe-haven Swiss franc in holiday thinned liquidity, which left the pound vulnerable to erratic, choppy trade.
By 1415 GMT, sterling was little changed on the day at $1.5400, barely keeping above its 200-day moving average around $1.5390, which was considered key technical support. Technical analysts say its daily close below that level on Wednesday had opened the door to more losses in the near term.
Despite the pound's broad losses, it managed to gain versus the euro, the day's biggest underperformer, due to ongoing concerns about debt problems plaguing weaker euro zone countries. The single currency slipped 0.4 percent to 84.78 pence, falling below its 200-day moving average at 85.05 pence, which may signal further weakness. The pound fell to A$1.5307 against the Australian currency while tumbling to 1.4623 Swiss francs.