GBP/USD eyeing a break below 1.2300 ahead of UK jobs

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

After a brief phase of consolidation seen in late-Asia/ early Europe, the GBP/USD pair finally broke to the downside post-European open, as traders price-in a negative UK labor market report due on the cards in less than hour.

GBP/USD: Daily pivot (1.2281) next on sight

GBP/USD’s retreat from one-week highs of 1.2415 regained momentum in the European session, knocking-off the rate to daily lows at 1.2307, before recovering some ground to now trade at 1.2317, still down -0.74% on the day.

The cable came under fresh selling pressure this session, as markets assess the longer-term implications of the UK May’s clean talk on Brexit, which left the ball in the EU’s court with regard to the deal negotiations. Moreover, latest comments from the European Commission (EC) member Dombrovskis added to renewed downslide in the pound. He said that the Brexit vote could have negative impact on both the European Union and the UK.

Further, anticipation of a weaker the UK jobs data also triggered fresh selling in the major. Also, the US CPI and industrial production will have significant impact on the spot ahead of the speeches from Fed’s Yellen and Kashkari.

GBP/USD Levels to consider

In terms of technical levels, upside barriers are lined up at 1.2400 (50-DMA), 1.2415/29 (weekly high/ 100-DMA) and 1.2500 (zero figure). While supports are aligned at 1.2300 (round figure) and 1.2281 (daily pivot) and below that at 1.2249 (20-DMA).

	TREND INDEX	OB/OS INDEX	VOLATILY INDEX
15M	Bullish	Neutral	Shrinking
1H	Bearish	Neutral	Low
4H	Bearish	Neutral	High
1D	Bearish	Neutral	High
1W	Bullish	Neutral	Low
Updated Jan 17, 08:15 GMT

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD climbs to daily highs near 1.1820

EUR/USD now picks up pace and advances to the area of daily peaks north of the 1.1800 barrier at the end of the week. The pair’s decent move higher comes against the backdrop of a generalised lack of direction in the FX galaxy and the mild offered stance in the US Dollar.

GBP/USD trims losses, retests 1.3460

After briefly challenging its key 200-day SMA near 1.3440, GBP/USD now manages to regain some balance and revisit the 1.3460 zone on Friday. Cable’s pullback comes as the selling pressure on the Greenback gathers traction, reigniting some recovery in the risk-linked space.

Gold flirts with four-week highs past $5,200

Gold extends its rebound, climbing for a third consecutive session and pushing back above the $5,200 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The move higher continues to draw support from lingering geopolitical tensions and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding US trade policy, both of which are keeping safe-haven demand firmly in play.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate with short-term cautious bullish bias

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are consolidating near key technical areas on Friday, showing mild signs of stabilization after recent volatility. BTC holds above $67,000 despite mild losses so far this week, while ETH hovers around $2,000 after a rejection near its upper consolidation boundary.

Breaking: US and Israel attack Iran, risk aversion to sweep global markets

Early Saturday, United States (US) President Donald Trump announced that the US had begun “major combat operations” in Iran, following Israel’s pre-emptive missile attacks against Tehran.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.