EUR/GBP faces a hurdle at 0.8300, slips back inside the woods

• EUR/GBP is oscillating in a 21-pip range ahead of speeches from BOE’s Bailey and ECB’s Lagarde.
• The BOE is preparing to announce one more rate hike to corner the galloping inflation.
• The ECB may announce a rate hike for the first time in the last quarter of 2022.

The EUR/GBP pair has attracted a few bids to near 0.8288 but still balancing in a narrow range of 0.8279-0.8300 from Tuesday. The cross seems unable to fetch attention from the market participants as investors are awaiting the speeches from Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey and European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde.

Earlier, the asset bounces sharply from April’s low at 0.8250 after the European Central Bank (ECB) chose a neutral status in its monetary policy announcement. After scrutinizing a tepid growth rate, ECB’s Lagarde preferred to keep the policy rates unchanged. Also, the ECB policymakers dictated neutral guidance till the conclusion of the Asset Purchase Program (APP), which is expected to conclude in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2022.

Meanwhile, BOE’s Bailey and his colleagues are planning one more rate hike to contain the inflation mess. A print of 7% by the UK’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) is indicative for a fourth consecutive interest rate hike by the BOE. Currently, the interest rate has increased to 0.75% and is expected to elevate further amid soaring inflation. The speech from BOE’s Bailey will provide cues for the likely monetary policy action by the BOE in May

This week, investors will also focus on Euro’s Consumer Confidence, which will release on Thursday. A preliminary estimate shows the landing of Consumer Confidence at -20 against the previous print of -18.7.