On Wednesday morning, the GBP/USD rate was testing the lower boundary of the falling wedge pattern located circa 1.2930.
It is expected, that the rate could reverse north from the given boundary and target the 55- and 100-hour moving averages located circa 1.2980.
The British Pound appreciated against the US Dollar, following the UK Retail Sales data release on Thursday at 8:30 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate gained 16 pips or 0.13% right after the release. The British Pound continued trading at the 1.3010 level against the US Dollar.
Office for National Statistics released the UK Retail Sales data that came out better-than-expected of 1.1% compared with forecast –0.3%.
According to analysts, the unexpected increase in the UK retail sales was driven by Brexit uncertainty. It is likely, that consumers are undisturbed by the UK departure from the EU bloc. Consumers have supported the UK economic growth since the referendum.
Last week of the month
During this week there will be a couple of macroeconomic events to watch, avoid or trade.
First, the Canadian central bank will publish their interest rate on Wednesday at 14:00 GMT.
On Thursday, the US Durable Goods Orders data will be published at 12:30 GMT. This event can cause a move of up to 20 base points.
The data will end on Friday, as at 12:30 GMT the US Advance GDP will be published. This is the top US data set, which has the largest impact on the USD.
Meanwhile, check out the previous data release covers and economic calendar analysis on the Dukascopy Webinars YouTube channel.
GBP/USD short-term review
On Wednesday morning, the GBP/USD currency pair was testing the lower boundary of the falling wedge pattern located circa 1.2980.If the given pattern holds, it is expected, that the pair reverses north and targets the 55- and 100-hour SMAs located circa 1.2980.
Otherwise, the pair might breach the given pattern and decline to the psychological level located at the 1.2900 mark.
Hourly Chart
On the daily chart the large scale the ascending pattern was broken on Wednesday.
Note the resistance line, which managed to eventually force the currency exchange rate through the lower trend line of the large scale the ascending pattern.
In regards to the future, it could be seen that on the daily candle chart the 100 and 200-day simple moving averages were providing support at the 1.2966 level.
The 200-day SMA managed to stop the currency exchange rate from declining at the end of March and start of April.
Daily chart
Meanwhile, the pending orders in the 100-pip range were bearish. 55% of the orders were set to sell.