GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP fell marginally against the USD and closed at 1.5831. However, losses in the Pound were limited as official data showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the UK fell to the lowest level since June 2011 in December. The Office for National Statistics revealed that number of jobless claims in the UK declined by 12,100 in December, following the revised drop of 8,900 recorded in the previous month. Meanwhile, the claimant count rate stood unchanged at 4.8% in December, in line with market expectations. Similarly, the ILO measure of the unemployment rate fell marginally to 7.7% in the September-November period from 7.8% in June-August. Market had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
Separately, the minutes of the latest Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy meeting indicated that policymakers voted 8-1 to maintain the size of quantitative easing at £375 billion. The monetary policy committee unanimously decided to retain the record low 0.50% interest rate. Also in the much awaited speech, British Prime Minister, David Cameron stated that he is in favor of a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU). He insisted that he does not want the country to drift towards an EU exit.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.5831, with the GBP trading flat from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.5790, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.5750. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.5883, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.5936.
Trading trends in the pair today are expected to be determined by the release of the BBA mortgage approvals data in the UK.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
