GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP rose 0.41% against the USD and closed at 1.5358.
Yesterday, the IMF downgraded UK’s growth projection and indicated that the British economy is expected to grow 0.7% in 2013 and 1.5% in 2014, less than the 1% and 1.9% expansions seen in January.
In economic news, the UK inflation remained steady, stubbornly above the 2 percent target in March. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that nation’s annual inflation stayed at 2.8% in March, in line with market expectations. Retail prices grew 3.3% in March from a year ago, following a 3.2% rise in the previous month. A separate communique from ONS revealed that input and output price inflation eased markedly in March, mirroring a slowdown in inflationary pressures.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 1.5358, with the GBP trading flat from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.5294, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.523. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.5401, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.5444.
Investors closely eye the Bank of England (BoE) minutes from April meeting. Although the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave policy unchanged, the recent softening of global activity, along with yesterday’s IMF downgrade of UK growth prospects for 2013 and 2014 has left market participants looking for policy makers voting pattern.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
