Sterling edged up against the dollar on Thursday but saw gains versus the euro wiped out after surprisingly weak UK retail sales data reinforced the view UK interest rates will stay at record lows for some time to come. British retail sales were flat in August compared with expectations for a small 0.1 percent rise for August and a downwardly revised 0.2 percent gain in July.
Confederation of British Industry data also showed manufacturing orders fell slightly less than forecast in September. Separately, a BoE quarterly report showed UK inflation expectations for the year ahead held steady at 2.4 percent in August, unchanged from May.
All this bolstered expectations the Bank of England will keep interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent for some time to come as the central bank continues to buy domestic assets from the market to boost liquidity and stimulate the economy.
"Overall sterling is going to be the underperformer among the majors," said Ian Stannard, senior currency strategist at BNP Paribas. Cable was 0.1 percent up on the day at $1.6512 by 1423 GMT but off a day's high of $1.6569 hit earlier. Sterling also pared gains against the dollar later in the session as the US currency see-sawed against most major currencies in early New York trade. Some in the market said this was perhaps due to US weekly jobless claims and housing data not being as good as expected.
The pound was steady on the day against the euro, erasing earlier slim gains. The euro traded 89.24 pence by 1430 GMT. Analysts said the outlook remained one of sterling weakness against the single European currency after UK government bond yields fell on expectations of further monetary easing.
Sterling has been on the back foot since Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Tuesday a UK economic recovery would take a long time and he was considering cutting the rate paid on commercial banks' reserves at the BoE.