GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the GBP fell 0.82% against the USD and closed at 1.4546, after UK’s seasonally adjusted Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly declined to a level of 49.2 in April, slipping into contraction territory for the first time in almost three years mainly due to lack of domestic demand and falling export orders. Investors had expected it to advance to a level of 51.2, following a revised reading of 50.7 in the previous month.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 1.4522, with the GBP trading 0.16% lower from yesterday’s close.
Overnight data showed that Britain’s BRC shop price index fell in line with investor expectations by 1.7% YoY in April. In the prior month, the index had registered a similar fall.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.4438, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.4353. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.4689, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.4856.
Moving ahead, market participants will look forward to UK’s construction PMI data for April, scheduled to release in a few hours.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
