British pound rises after strong UK employment data

The British pound rose against major currencies as traders reacted to the better UK jobs data. According to the Office of National Statistics, the country’s average earnings with bonus fell by 1.0% in July. That was better than the 1.3% decline that analysts were expecting. It was also better than the previous month’s decline of 1.2%. Without bonuses, the wages rose by 0.2%. Other data showed that the claimant count in July rose by more than 73.3K, which was better than analysts’ forecast of 100k. At the same time, the country’s unemployment rate rose from 3.9% to 4.1%. Still, analysts expect that the rate will jump in October when the government ends its furlough program. 

The Australian dollar and yuan rose after the Chinese bureau of statistics released positive economic data. The bureau said that the country’s retail sales rose by 0.5% in August. That was the first positive month for retail sales this year. The bureau cited a 20% increase in auto sales as a leading contributor to the strong sales. In the same month, industrial production increased by 5.6% as companies boosted their production on rising demand. Fixed asset investments declined by 0.3% in July after falling by more than 1.6% in the previous month. 

The price of crude oil declined slightly as traders reacted to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its report, the France-based group slashed this year’s demand forecast citing the rising number of coronavirus cases. It now expects daily demand of more than 91.7 million barrels per day from the previous forecast of more than 99 million barrels per day. This report came a day after OPEC slashed its forecast citing weaker demand in India and other countries. The American Petroleum Institute (API) will release its inventories data later today followed by data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

XBR/USD

The XBR/USD pair is trading at 40.20. The four-hour chart below shows that the pair has been moving sideways since yesterday. It is also below the 50-day and 25-day moving averages while the Relative Strength Index has started to rise. It is also below the rising wedge pattern that happened a few weeks ago. So, it seems like the bulls are attempting to pare back some of last week’s losses. The pair is likely to remain in this range ahead of the EIA inventories data.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair rose to an intraday high of 1.1897, which is a few pips below the important psychological level of 1.2000. The price is still above the lower side of the ascending channel. It is also above the 50-day and 25-day moving averages. The average directional movement index has risen to 34, which is a sign of the strength of the trend. Therefore, the pair is likely to continue rising as bulls aim for the next resistance at 1.2000.

AUD/USD

The AUD/USD pair rose to an intraday high of 0.7335, which is the highest it has been since 2 September. On the four-hour chart, the price is above the 50-day and 100-day moving averages. The signal and main line of the MACD have also started rising. The price is also above the ascending white trendline. The pair is likely to continue rising as bulls aim for the next resistance level of 0.7400.