GBP/USD cheers US dollar pullback amid concerns over UK PM Johnson’s health

While paying a little heed to the UK PM Boris Johnson’s critical conditions on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), GBP/USD registers mild gains of 0.28% to 1.2265 ahead of the London open on Tuesday. The reason could be traced from the broad US dollar pullback amid the recovery in the market’s risk sentiment.

The US President Donald Trump showed readiness to announce another aid package following the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hints for the same. This boosted the market’s risk-tone following initial fears on President Trump’s statement that Next week, a week and a half will show a big surge of the virus.

Also supporting the market’s trade sentiment could be signals of further/extended stimulus from Japan and New Zealand.

On the other hand, updates via the Sky News suggest that the UK PM Johnson’s health conditions are likely to deteriorate further. The national leader has already transferred the rights to preside administration meetings and lead the UK through the pandemic to the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab during the day.

That said, the US 10-year treasury yields remain mostly positive around 0.68% with major Asian stocks marking gains.

While receding fears of the pandemic were earlier attributed to the declining figures from Spain, Italy and the UK, the recent drop in the British death toll from the top of April 04 figures of 708 to 439 on April 06 seems doubtful as per the experts, said The Sun.

Moving on, investors will keep eyes on the virus updates and the government/central bank efforts to combat the deadly disease for near-term direction.

Technical analysis

Unless clearing a range between 10-day SMA and 21-day SMA, respectively near 1.2290 and 1.2180, the pair likely to remain sideways. However, bulls will have an additional upside barrier in the form of a monthly resistance line, near 1.2350, to observe beyond 10-day SMA.