Sterling heads for second weekly loss versus dollar

Sterling fell in American trade to near five-month lows against the dollar, following earlier data from Britain and the US, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney participated in a panel discussion titled "The future of central banking?" at the Sveriges Riksbank Anniversary Conference, in Stockholm.

As of 05:32 GMT, GBP/USD fell 0.49% to 1.3314 from the opening of 1.3380, with an intraday low at 1.3306, and a high at 1.3389. 

Earlier UK data showed first quarter GDP growth at 0.1% q/q as expected, down from 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017, while steadying at 1.2% y/y. 

Business Investment fell 0.2% in the first quarter, missing expectations of a 0.2% rise, while the services index rose 0.3% in the three months ending March as expected, down from 0.5%. 

Otherwise, earlier US data showed durable goods orders fell 1.7% in April, compared to a 2.7% rise in March, and missing expectations of a 1.3% drop, while core orders accelerated to 0.9% from 0.1%, beating forecasts of 0.5%. 

University of Michigan's final reading for the consumer sentiment survey came at 98.8 in May, same as the preliminary and the April reading and in line with forecasts.