GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP rose 0.20% against the USD and closed at 1.6478, after the UK National Statistics reported that trade deficit in the nation narrowed to £9.439 billion in November, from a deficit of £9.651 billion in October. Economists had forecasted the deficit to narrow to £9.450 billion. Separately, the Bank of England (BoE), at its two-day policy meeting, decided to keep its interest rate at a record-low of 0.5% and maintain the size of its quantitative easing programme unchanged at £375 billion, a move in-line with market expectations.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.6480, with the GBP trading tad higher from yesterday’s close. Earlier today, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), reported that its retail sales monitor rose 0.4% (YoY) in December, compared to a 0.6% (YoY) rise registered in the previous month.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.6450, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.6419. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.6505, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.6529.
The National Statistics Office is expected to release the UK’s industrial production and manufacturing production data, ahead of NIESR GDP estimate, slated for release later today.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
