GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP declined marginally against the USD and closed at 1.5094.
In economic news, the Office for National Statistics reported that the claimant count change in the UK declined by a seasonally adjusted 1,500 in February, while the claimant count rate stood steady at 4.7% in February, in line with market expectations. Separately, the ILO rate of unemployment held steady at 7.8% in the November-January period, in line with market expectations.
Also, the minutes of the meeting held on March 6 and 7 indicated that the Bank of England (BoE) Governor, Mervyn King and two other policymakers voted to increase the quantitative easing, while other six members stated that further stimulus would increase inflationary risk. Moreover, the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to maintain the record low 0.5% interest rate.
Meanwhile, in his budget statement to Parliament, the UK Chancellor George Osborne stated that growth in 2013 would be 0.6% from the 1.2% predicted in the autumn statement.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.5118, with the GBP trading 0.16% higher from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.5034, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.4949. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.5195, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.5271.
In economic releases ahead in the day, retail sales and the public sector net borrowing data in the UK are expected to paint a positive picture, whereas the CBI industrial trends survey is forecast to record a monthly drop in March.
The currency pair is showing convergence with its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
