GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP rose 0.86% against the USD and closed at 1.6750 after the IMF raised its forecast on the UK economic growth for the second time this year, by stating that the Britain economy would outperform other big economies with 2.9% growth. Positive sentiment was also fuelled after manufacturing production in the UK rose more-than-expected 1.0% (MoM) in February, its biggest increase since September last year and after overall UK industrial production climbed 0.9% (MoM) in February, recovering from a flat reading in January. Separately, the NIESR, in its monthly GDP estimate indicated that the UK economy grew by 0.9%, its fastest rate of growth in almost four years in the three months to March.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 1.6746, with the GBP trading marginally lower from yesterday’s close. Earlier today, data from the UK showed that, on an annual basis, the BRC shop price index in UK fell 1.7% in March, following a decrease of 1.4% recorded in the preceding month.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.6653, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.6560. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.6798, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.6850.
Later today, the National Statistics is scheduled to publish UK’s trade balance data.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
