Home GBP/JPY refreshes multi-month top above 154.00 on Japan GDP miss, UK employment eyed
FXStreet News

GBP/JPY refreshes multi-month top above 154.00 on Japan GDP miss, UK employment eyed

  • GBP/JPY prints three-day winning streak while refreshing to fresh high since February 2018.
  • Japan’s Q1 GDP dropped below -1.2% forecast to -1.3% QoQ.
  • S&P 500 Futures print mild risk-on mood despite inflation, covid jitters.
  • UK jobs report will be the key amid chatters over Britain’s recovery.

GBP/JPY takes the bids around 154.60, up 0.12% intraday, while rising to a fresh high in 39 months amid Tuesday’s Asian session. The pair recently jumped on downbeat Japan GDP data while mildly bid S&P 500 Futures also favored the quote’s run-up.

The preliminary readings of Japan’s Q1 GDP slipped beneath -1.2% QoQ market consensus to -1.3% while the annualized readings dropped below -4.6% expected to -5.1%.

Read:  Japan GDP misses expctations by 0.1% QoQ

It’s worth mentioning that Japan’s Nikkei 225 also joins S&P 500 Futures while portraying the mild risk-on mood. Also on the same line could be the US 10-year Treasury yields, up 1.4 basis points to 1.654% by the press time.

While searching for catalysts, upbeat vaccine updates and the US readiness to share more of its jabs with the needy nations seem to provide a tailwind to the market sentiment. Also on the same line could be the hopes of further stimulus and China’s readiness to back the global push for patent waiver of covid vaccines.

On the contrary, the UK government is troubled with a 76% jump in the Indian variant of covid since Thursday. The same push back the unlock plans for June 21 while also highlighting local lockdowns if needed. It should be noted that the Brexit jitters continue as UK’s negotiator David Frost said relations with the European Union (EU) will remain bumpy for a time.

Looking forward, the UK’s Claimant Count for April and Unemployment Rate for three months to March will be the key to watch as markets expect no changes in the later figure of 4.9% while citing 25.6K forecast versus 10.1K prior for the former economic release. Given the downbeat expectations from the scheduled data, coupled with recent pessimism in Britain, GBP/JPY may have a tough time crossing the 155.00 immediate hurdle.

Technical analysis

Unless declining back below the previous week’s top surrounding 153.40-45, GBP/JPY is poised to challenge the 2018 peak surrounding 156.65. In doing so, January 2018 high near 156.10 may offer an intermediate halt.

 

FX Street

FX Street

FXStreet is the leading independent portal dedicated to the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market. It was launched in 2000 and the portal has always been proud of their unyielding commitment to provide objective and unbiased information, to enable their users to take better and more confident decisions.