GBP/JPY Price Analysis: Bears flex muscles around 162.00 as BoJ looms

GBP/JPY keeps the previous day’s losses around two-week low, depressed of late.
Monthly bearish channel, sustained trading below previous support line signals further downside.
200-SMA appears the key challenge to bears amid sluggish RSI.

Anil Panchal FXStreet

GBP/JPY holds lower ground at the intraday bottom surrounding 162.00 as pair traders await the all-important Bank of Japan (BoJ) monetary policy meeting announcements early Friday.

Also read: GBP/JPY rebounds from 162.00 ahead of UK Manufacturing data and BoJ policy

In doing so, the cross-currency pair remains inside a downward-sloping trend channel from March 01 while keeping the early week’s downside break of the five-week-old support-turned-resistance line.

It’s worth noting that the absence of an oversold RSI and the quote’s sustained trading below the 50-bar Simple Moving Average (SMA) adds strength to the bearish bias.

That said, the stated channel’s bottom line, around 161.65 by the press time, appears to put a floor under the GBP/JPY prices. Following that, the 200-SMA level, near 161.20 by the press time, acts as the last defense of the buyers.

In a case where GBP/JPY remains bearish past 161.20, the sellers may aim for the mid-February swing low surrounding 160.50 and the 160.00 round figure.

Alternatively, recovery moves can target the 163.00 round figure but may have a tough time crossing the 163.25-30 resistance confluence, encompassing the aforementioned channel’s top line and the 50-SMA.

Even if the quote rallies past 163.30, the previous support line from early February, near 163.50, could challenge the run-up before directing the GBP/JPY bulls towards the previous monthly peak surrounding 166.00.

GBP/JPY: Four-hour chart

Trend: Further downside expected

Additional important levels

Overview
Today last price	162.13
Today Daily Change	-0.10
Today Daily Change %	-0.06%
Today daily open	162.23

Trends
Daily SMA20	162.3
Daily SMA50	160.49
Daily SMA100	163.34
Daily SMA200	163.44

Levels
Previous Daily High	162.79
Previous Daily Low	161.62
Previous Weekly High	166.01
Previous Weekly Low	162.61
Previous Monthly High	166.01
Previous Monthly Low	156.73
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	162.06
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	162.34
Daily Pivot Point S1	161.64
Daily Pivot Point S2	161.04
Daily Pivot Point S3	160.46
Daily Pivot Point R1	162.81
Daily Pivot Point R2	163.38
Daily Pivot Point R3	163.98

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

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