GBP/USD surrenders early gains to 1-1/2 week tops, back near 1.30 mark post-NFP

   “¢   US economy added 250K jobs in October, wage growth meets market expectations.
   “¢   The USD fails to gain any meaningful traction post-NFP and helps limit downside.

The GBP/USD pair extended its retracement slide from 1-1/2 week tops and weakened farther below the key 1.30 psychological mark post-US monthly jobs report.

With investors looking past the latest Brexit optimism, a pickup in the  US Dollar demand, supported by strong US employment details, turned out to be one of the key factors exerting some fresh downward pressure on the major.

The headline NFP print came in to show that the US economy added 250K new jobs in October, much better than 190K anticipated and 134K previous. Adding to this, the average hourly earnings matched consensus estimates and recorded a strong growth of 3.1% y/y, marking the largest annual gains since mid-2009.

The data pointed to a continuous labor market tightening and reinforced market expectations for a gradual Fed monetary policy tightening, even beyond 2018, which eventually provide a minor lift to the greenback, though seemed lacked any strong follow-through.

Meanwhile, the latest trade-related news, wherein CNBC’s Washington correspondent Eamon Javers tweeted that the report president Trump is ready to cut a trade deal with China is not true, seemed to be the only factor helping limit further downside.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near the 1.2965 area, below which the corrective slide could further get extended towards the 1.2900 handle. On the upside, the 1.3035-40 region now seems to have emerged as an immediate resistance, which if cleared should assist the pair to aim towards reclaiming the 1.3100 handle.