For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the GBP rose 0.72% against the USD and closed at 1.4148, after the Bank of England’s (BoE) Governor, Mark Carney, stated that the central bank can now focus increasingly on combating inflation and bringing it near to its target, as the drag from the historic Brexit vote on the broader economy and investment has started to recede, with signs of a pick-up in wage growth as the labour market strengthens.
On the data front, UK’s number of mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to a nearly 3-year low level of 61.0K in December, highlighting that housing market took a further hit after the BoE raised the key interest rate for the first time in a decade in November. In the previous month, mortgage approvals had registered a revised reading of 64.7K, while investors had expected for a drop to a level of 63.5K. On the other hand, the nation’s net consumer credit rose £1.5 billion in December, beating market estimates for a rise of £1.4 billion. In the previous month, net consumer credit had registered a revised similar rise.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.4177, with the GBP trading 0.2% higher against the USD from yesterday’s close.
Overnight data revealed that UK’s GfK consumer confidence index unexpectedly climbed to a level of -9.0 in January, confounding market anticipations for the index to remain steady at a level of -13.0. Additionally, the nation’s Lloyds business barometer rose to a level of 35.0 in January, compared to a reading of 28.0 in the prior month.
The pair is expected to find support at 1.4043, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.3910. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.4247, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.4318.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
