Sterling rose in American trade off April 2017 lows for the sixth session out of seven, following earlier data and developments from Britain and the US today.
As of 07:06 GMT, GBP/USD rose 0.62% to 1.2688, with an intraday low at 1.2608, and the highest since December 10 at 1.2707.
Earlier UK data showed retail sales rose 1.4% in November, compared to a 0.4% drop in October, while beating estimates of a 0.3% increase, as core sales, excluding fuel, rose 1.2%, beating estimates of 0.2%.
On a yearly basis, retail sales rose 3.6%, up from 2.4% in October, while core sales accelerated in growth to 3.8% from 2.8%.
Bank of England's policymakers voted to hold interest rates at 0.75% for the third meeting in a row, and the assets purchase program at 435 billion pounds for the 19th meeting in a row.
Earlier US data showed unemployment claims for the week ending December 15 up 12 thousand to 214 thousand, while continuing claims for the week ending December 8 rose 27 thousand to 1.688 million.
The Philly Manufacturing Index rose to 9.4 from 12.9 in November, while the CB leading index rose 0.2%, compared to a 0.3% drop in October.
The Federal Open Market Committee voted to hike interest rates at the December 18-19 meeting by 25 basis points for the fourth time this year to below 2.50% as expected by analysts, while carrying on the process of reselling government bonds and mortgage securities by a $50 billion a month pace.