Pound Sterling Price News and Forecast: GBP/USD retains its bullish potential

FXStreet Team FXStreet

GBP/USD Price Analysis: Extends bounce off 200-HMA towards 1.3700

GBP/USD rises to 1.3688, up 0.06% intraday, during Monday’s Asian session. In doing so, the cable keeps Friday’s U-turn from 200-hour moving average (HMA) amid the bullish MACD.

With this, GBP/USD is up for breaking the 1.3700 immediate hurdle whereas Thursday’s high, also the highest since May 2018, around 1.3750, will lure the buyers afterward. During the quote’s sustained rise past-1.3750, April 2018 low near 1.3965 will be the key for GBP/USD bulls.

GBP/USD Forecast: Coronavirus-related concerns limit pound’s bullish potential

The GBP/USD pair retreated on Friday but was able to close the week with gains at 1.3680. The pound was hit by poor UK data, as December Retail Sales were up a modest 0.3% MoM, well below the 1.2% expected. When compared to a year earlier, sales grew 2.9% missing expectations of 4%. Additionally, Public Sector Net Borrowing in the same month increased by more than anticipated to £33.375 billion.

EUR/USD recovers some early losses driven by rising energy prices amid US-Iran war

The EUR/USD pair claws back some of its early losses during the late Asian trading session on Monday, but is still 0.25% down to near 1.1780. Earlier in the day, the Euro declined sharply against the US Dollar as investors shifted to the safe-haven fleet amid the brutal war between Iran, Israel, and the United States, which broke out over the weekend.

GBP/USD targets 1.3500 barrier near moving averages

GBP/USD rebounds from the daily losses, trading around 1.3450 during the Asian hours on Monday. The technical analysis of the daily chart indicates an ongoing bearish bias, as the pair trades within a descending channel pattern.

Gold looks further north as Iran war boosts haven demand

Gold is taking a breather after the initial run to over one-month highs near $5,400, kicking off the new week with a bang. A global flight to safety theme, following the US-Israel joint attacks on Iran over the weekend, bolstered the demand for the traditional store of value, Gold.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple under pressure as key supports face breakdown risk

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple prices trade on the back foot at the start of this week on Monday, after extending losses in the previous week. BTC is on the brink of a breakdown, ETH is capped below key resistance, and XRP risks a crack of the trendline.

The market is paying for insurance, not apocalypse

As expected, this morning felt less like a Monday market open and more like a fire drill. Futures screens flickered red. S&P contracts down almost 1%. Nasdaq off 1.2%. Brent leaped 13% through $80. Gold rose 1.6% toward $5350 before paring some gains. The dollar is strutting mildly. The Swiss franc is quietly doing what it always does in a storm, catching some safe-haven flows.

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.