EUR/GBP consolidates below multi-week tops, bulls await a move beyond 0.8600 mark

EUR/GBP lacked any firm directional bias and oscillated in a range on Wednesday.
Weaker data turned out to be a key factor behind the euro’s underperformance.
The recent rise in COVID-19 cases undermined the sterling and helped limit losses.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The EUR/GBP cross seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses through the early European session and was last seen trading in the neutral territory, around the 0.8585 region.

Following the previous day's modest pullback from the 0.8600 neighbourhood, or near six-week tops, the EUR/GBP cross witnessed some selling during the first half of the trading action on Wednesday. The disappointing release of German Retail Sales figures turned out to be a key factor behind the shared currency's relative underperformance.

The EUR/GBP cross remained on the defensive following a slight downward revision of the August Manufacturing PMI prints for Germany and the Eurozone. Conversely, the UK Manufacturing PMI was finalized at 60.3 as against 60.1 reported in the flash estimate. This was seen as another factor that contributed to the pair's modest intraday downtick.

That said, the recent spike in new COVID-19 cases in the UK turned out to be a key factor that acted as a headwind for the British pound. According to the official figures released on Tuesday, another 32,181 people in Britain tested positive for COVID-19. This, in turn, helped limit any meaningful slide for the EUR/GBP cross, at least for now.

Meanwhile, bulls are likely to wait for a sustained move beyond the 0.8600 mark before positioning for an extension of the recent strong rebound from mid-0.8400s, or the lowest level since February 2020. The EUR/GBP cross might then climb to an intermediate hurdle near the 0.8640 region en-route July monthly swing highs, around the 0.8670 area.

Technical levels to watch

EUR/GBP

Overview
Today last price	0.8584
Today Daily Change	-0.0003
Today Daily Change %	-0.03
Today daily open	0.8587

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.8529
Daily SMA50	0.8549
Daily SMA100	0.8589
Daily SMA200	0.8699

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.8599
Previous Daily Low	0.8566
Previous Weekly High	0.8594
Previous Weekly Low	0.8543
Previous Monthly High	0.8599
Previous Monthly Low	0.845
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.8586
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.8578
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.8569
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.855
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.8535
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.8602
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.8617
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.8636

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