Key Points
- The British Pound after trading towards 148.50 against the Japanese yen found offers, and traded lower.
- There is a crucial bullish trend line formed on the hourly chart of GBPJPY, which may provide support at 146.00.
- Recently, the BOE interest rate was announced in the UK in which the central bank made no changes in the interest rates from 0.25%.
- The UK Retails Sales figure was also released by the National Statistics recently, which posted in line forecast reading.
GBPJPY Technical Analysis
The British Pound faced a lot of sellers around the 148.50 resistance against the Japanese yen, which resulted in a downside move. The failure also occurred after the BOE interest rate decision.
However, downside move found support just above a crucial bullish trend line formed on the hourly chart of GBPJPY at 146.00-30. The pair is currently recovering, and attempting to close above the 21 hourly simple moving average.
If all goes well, then there is a chance of GBPJPY gaining momentum and trading back above the 147.00 handle.
UK Retails Sales
Recently in the UK, the Retail Sales, which measures the total receipts of retail stores was released by the National Statistics. The market was aligned for an increase of 5.9% in Nov 2016, compared with Nov 2015.
The result was in line with the forecast, as there was a rise of 5.9% in sales in Nov 2016. In terms of the monthly change, there was a rise of 0.2%. The report added that “Average store prices (including petrol stations) increased by 0.1% in November 2016 compared with November 2015; this was the first year-on-year increase since June 2014. The largest contribution to the increase came from petrol stations. This is consistent with the latest Consumer Prices Index (CPI) data, which showed an increase in petrol prices”.
Overall, the outcome was mixed, as it was on the lower side compared with the last increase, which ignited a downside move in GBPJPY during the past two sessions. However, the pair seems to be recovering at the moment, and may trade higher towards 147.40.
