GBP/JPY drifts into the high side near 190.00 in broad-market Yen selloff

GBP/JPY tested into the high end as the Yen recedes.
UK Public Sector Net Borrowing declined sharply in January.
UK PMIs due in Thursday, markets expected a mixed steady print.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

GBP/JPY rotated on Wednesday, marking in a slight new high for the week as the Pound Sterling (GBP) gets a leg up from a broad-market pullback in the Japanese Yen (JPY). Bank of England (BoE) policymaker Swati Dhingra noted on Wednesday that the outlook for UK inflation remains bumpy, but downwards, noting that UK consumption still remains below pre-pandemic levels as the UK lags behind its developed economy cohorts in Europe and the US.

UK Public Sector Net Borrowing, which tracks the UK government’s budget surplus or deficit, tumbled to its lowest print in at least fifteen years, showing a net decline of £-17.615 billion, far below the forecast £18.4 billion. The figure fell back from the previous MoM print of £6.451 billion, though the National Statistics office tracking of the UK’s federal budget is prone to revisions as time goes on.

Thursday brings the UK’s latest Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) figures for February, and markets are expecting the UK S&P Global/CIPS Services PMI to tick down to 54.1 from 54.3 MoM. The Manufacturing PMI component is forecast to see a slight improvement to 47.5 from 47.0, and the Composite UK PMI is expected to hold steady at 52.9.

February’s GfK Consumer Confidence slated for Friday is expected to see a slight improvement to -18.0 from -19.0 to round out the trading week, and Japan will be out for Thursday as the country celebrates Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday.

GBP/JPY technical outlook

The Guppy continues to drift into the high end with the pair sticking close to its highest bids since 2015. The GBP/JPY continues to be bolstered by the 200-hour Simple Moving Average (SMA) near 189.00 in the near-term, and momentum is holding firmly in the bullish side despite slowing gains on the chart.

The GBP/JPY continues to test into the 190.00 major handle, and the pair sees firm technical support after rebounding from the 200-day SMA below 182.00 in early 2024. The pair remains up around 6% from December’s choppy swing low into 178.00.

GBP/JPY hourly chart

GBP/JPY daily chart

GBP/JPY

Overview
Today last price	189.66
Today Daily Change	0.33
Today Daily Change %	0.17
Today daily open	189.33

Trends
Daily SMA20	187.99
Daily SMA50	185.1
Daily SMA100	184.7
Daily SMA200	182.79

Levels
Previous Daily High	189.73
Previous Daily Low	189.04
Previous Weekly High	190.08
Previous Weekly Low	187.86
Previous Monthly High	188.94
Previous Monthly Low	178.74
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	189.47
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	189.3
Daily Pivot Point S1	189
Daily Pivot Point S2	188.68
Daily Pivot Point S3	188.31
Daily Pivot Point R1	189.69
Daily Pivot Point R2	190.06
Daily Pivot Point R3	190.38

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

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