GBPUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, GBP fell 1.29% against the USD and closed at 1.5228, as minutes of Bank of England revealed a split in the 9-member Monetary Policy Committee, with three members voting for more easing, including outgoing governor Mervyn King. Additionally, rate of unemployment in the UK rose to 7.8% from 7.7% in December, proving a further dampener for the Sterling.
According to the minutes of the latest Bank of England meeting, policymakers voted 6-3 to maintain the size of quantitative easing at £375 billion. The nine-member panel unanimously decided to leave the interest rate unchanged at 0.50%. Governor Mervyn King and Paul Fisher joined David Miles, seeking an increase in asset purchases by £25 billion.
On the economic front, UK’s the claimant count fell by 12.5K to 1.54 million in January, against the expected decline of 5.5K claimants and compared to a revised 15.8K decline in the previous month. Meanwhile, the claimant count rate stood stable at 4.7% in January. Also, the ILO unemployment rate rose to 7.8% in the three months ended December, following a rate of 7.7% recorded in the three months ended November.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.5210, with the GBP trading 0.12% lower from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.5119, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.5027. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.5375, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.5539.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
