GBP/USD fell from session highs after UK data string

British pound came off almost eight-month highs against the US dollar on Tuesday, following official data to show that consumer price index in the United Kingdom decelerated in August, while the greenback was pressured ahead of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting, starting later today.

GBP/USD fell from a session high at 1.5935, recorded at 7:40 GMT, to trade at 1.5914 at 8:58 GMT, gaining 0.11% on a daily basis. Support was expected to be received at 1.5850, while resistance was to be met at September 16th high and also the pairs highest since January 18th, 1.5962.

Today the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the index of consumer prices in the United Kingdom decreased to 2.7% in August on annual basis in line with expectations, as in July it stood at 2.8%. The annual core consumer price index (CPI) remained without a change at 2.0% in August, while projections pointed an increase to 2.1%.

In addition, the index of retail prices in the UK rose to 3.3% in August on annual basis, following the 3.1% level in July, while preliminary estimates showed an advance to 3.2%.

The ONS index of house prices rose by 3.3% in July on annual basis, meeting what was anticipated by experts.

Meanwhile, the greenback retreated against most of its major peers on Monday, after Lawrence Summers left the contest to succeed Ben Bernanke as the next Federal Reserve Chairman. Currently, Vice Chairman Janet Yellen is President Barack Obama’s top candidate to take over the post of Governor of the central bank.

At the same time, market participants remained wary in expectation of the two-day meeting on policy by the Federal Reserve Bank, as most analysts anticipated a possible reduction of scale of stimulus to 75 billion USD from the current monthly pace of 85 billion USD of asset purchases.

Elsewhere, the sterling was lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP cross advancing 0.13% for the day to trade at 0.8401 at 9:16 GMT. EUR/JPY pair was gaining 0.29% to trade at 132.51 at 9:17 GMT.