Pound Advances Amid Risk Appetite
05 February 2021 - 4:50PM
RTTF2
The pound climbed against its major counterparts in the European
session on Friday, as the Bank of England cooled hopes for taking
the bank rate into negative territory sooner and the progress in
vaccine distribution spurred hopes for a gradual economic
recovery.
News that British researchers plan to use the Pfizer and
AstraZeneca vaccines to find ways to reduce coronavirus variants
further supported sentiment.
Investors await the Labor Department's closely watched report on
the employment situation for January due later in the day.
Economists expect employment to rise by 50,000 jobs in January
after a decline of 140,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate
is expected to hold at 6.7 percent.
Data from Halifax and IHS Markit showed that UK house prices
declined for the first time in six months in January.
House prices fell 0.3 percent on month in January after
remaining unchanged in December. This was the first decline since
May and the biggest fall since April last year. Economists had
forecast prices to climb 0.3 percent.
The pound advanced to a 3-day high of 1.3713 against the
greenback, off its early low of 1.3658. The pound may locate
resistance around the 1.42 level.
Reversing from an early low of 144.11 against the yen, the pound
firmed to near a 1-year high of 144.51. If the pound rises further,
148.00 is seen as its next resistance level.
The pound jumped to near 1-year highs of 1.2373 against the
franc and 0.8738 against the euro, from its early lows of 1.2348
and 0.8753, respectively. On the upside, 1.27 and 0.85 are possibly
seen as the next resistance for the pound against the franc and the
euro, respectively.
Looking ahead, U.S. and Canadian trade data for December, U.S.
and Canadian jobs data for January, U.S. consumer credit for
December and Canada Ivey PMI for January will be out in the New
York session.
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