GBP/USD drops to fresh weekly lows, inching closer to 1.3200 mark

GBP/USD witnessed some follow-through selling for the third consecutive session on Friday.
Concerns about a no-deal Brexit, dovish comments by BoE’s Saunders weighed on the pound.
The USD benefitted from a sharp fall in the US unemployment rate, surging US bond yields.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

A sudden pickup in the USD demand pushed the GBP/USD pair to fresh weekly lows, around the 1.3215-10 region during the early North American session.

The US dollar weakened a bit in reaction to softer headline NFP print, which showed that the US economy added 1.371 million jobs in August as compared to 1.4 million anticipated. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate surpassed even the most optimistic estimates and fell to 8.4% from 10.2% previous.

This, coupled with a strong rally in the US Treasury bond yields, attracted some dip-buying around the greenback. In turn, dollar's bounce exerted some additional pressure on the GBP/USD pair, which extended this week's retracement slide from YTD tops and remained depressed for the third consecutive session.

The British pound was further weighed by renewed concerns about a no-deal Brexit. Meanwhile, the BoE MPC member Michael Saunders indicated that the UK central bank could add to its unprecedented emergency support measures, which took its toll on the sterling and contributed to the downfall.

Apart from this, the latest leg of a slide over the past hour or so could further be attributed to some technical selling below mid-1.3200s. A subsequent breakthrough the 1.3200 mark will now be seen as a fresh trigger for bearish traders and set the stage for an extension of the corrective slide.

Technical levels to watch

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.3215
Today Daily Change	-0.0065
Today Daily Change %	-0.49
Today daily open	1.328

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.3173
Daily SMA50	1.2894
Daily SMA100	1.2656
Daily SMA200	1.2738

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.3358
Previous Daily Low	1.3242
Previous Weekly High	1.3357
Previous Weekly Low	1.3054
Previous Monthly High	1.3396
Previous Monthly Low	1.2982
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.3287
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.3314
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.3229
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.3178
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.3113
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.3345
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.341
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.3461

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

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