GBP/USD holds steady near 1.35 handle, moves little post-US data

   •  Mixed US economic data does little to provide any meaningful impetus.
   •  Indecisive price-action, within a broader trading range, remains a key theme.

The GBP/USD pair had a rather muted reaction to the mixed US economic data and held on to its mildly positive tone, around the key 1.3500 psychological mark.

Following a good two-way move during the early European session, led by the incoming Brexit headlines, renewed US Dollar buying interest prompted some fresh selling and dragged the pair to an intraday low level of 1.3474. The downfall was quickly bought into and the pair managed to bounce back above the 1.3500 handle. 

The rebound, however, lacked any strong follow-through and was being capped by upbeat US Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, which jumped to 34.4 in May as against a dip to 21.0 expected. The USD positive reading was partly negated by a larger-than-expected rise in the initial weekly jobless claims data, though did little to influence the price-action. 

Moving ahead, investors now look forward to the BoE Chief Economist Andy Haldane's scheduled speech for any fresh clues over the central bank's near-term monetary policy outlook, which might drive sentiment surrounding the British Pound and eventually provide some trading opportunities.

Technical outlook

As Yohay Elam, Analyst at FXStreet writes: “A congestion of significant resistance lines awaits at $1.3560: the Pivot Point one-day Resistance 2, the Fibonacci 38.2% and the one-day high converge there. A bit lower, $1.3546 is the confluence of the Simple Moving Average 200-1h, the SMA 50-4h, the 4h-High, and the 1h low.”

“In the broad scheme of things, high resistance awaits at $1.3623 which is the meeting point of the one-week high and the all-important Pivot Point one-week R1. On the downside, a dense cluster of potent support lines awaits at $1.3460: the one-day high, the one-month low, the one-week low, and the Bolinger Band one-hour Lower (Stdv. 2.2).”