GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the GBP rose 0.64% against the USD and closed at 1.4248.
In economic news, UK’s ILO unemployment rate remained steady at a level of 5.1% in the November-January 2016 period, in line with market expectations. Further, employment advanced by 116.0K in the November-January 2016 period, compared to an increase of 205.0K in the October-December 2015 period. Market expectation was for employment to advance 144.0K. Meanwhile, in the November-January 2016 period, the average earnings excluding bonus registered a rise of 2.20% in the UK on a YoY basis, higher than market expectations for an advance of 2.10%. The average earnings excluding bonus had risen 2.00% in the October-December 2015 period.
Separately, the UK Chancellor, George Osborne, in his latest budget report indicated a bleak outlook for the British economy. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the estimate for economic growth in 2017 was slashed to 2.2% from 2.5%, and to 2.1% from 2.4% in 2018. Further, growth in both 2019 and 2020 is now estimated at 2.1% compared with the previous forecast of 2.3%.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.426, with the GBP trading 0.08% higher from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.4111, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.3962. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.4351, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.4443.
Going ahead, investors await the BoE interest rate decision, scheduled to be announced later today.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.