- 52% of pending orders in the 100-pip range are to SELL
- 51% of traders are bullish on the Sterling
- Strong resistance area circa 1.3550
- Upcoming events: UK Manufacturing Production m/m, UK Goods Trade Balance, US Import Prices m/m
The British Pound rose slightly against the Greenback on the country's house price data. The GBP/USD exchange rate was up to the 1.3542 level, which was easily overstepped during the trading session.
The UK house prices declined unexpectedly in December to mark the first decline in six months, providing additional signs of slack in the country's property market. The mortgage lender Halifax stated that house prices fell 0.6% month-over-month in December, following a 0.3% gain in November. Analysts anticipate the market to decelerate further to draw Britain's house prices' growth of 0.1% in 2018, which would indicate property values declining in real terms, when adjusted for consumer price inflation.
British Manufacturing Production
The main event that could affect the GBP/USD exchange rate in this session is the British Manufacturing Production for November at 0930GMT. The country's Goods Trade Balance for the same period will be released at the same time.
Meanwhile, the only notable fundamental event from the US today is the monthly Import Prices at 1330GMT.
GBP/USD falls towards 1.3500
In result of the previous trading session the rate has broken through support line of a long ascending channel, thus ending the consolidation phase. Even though the pair has already crossed the 200-hour SMA and there are signs of a forming descending channel, a bunch of technical indicators suggest that an area around the 1.3500 mark represents strong support level, which is likely to lead to a rebound.
In that case, the cable might jump back to 1.3550. However, without additional impulse, for instance, from some fundamental event the further surge is unlikely because of combination of the 55- and 100-hour SMAs.
Nevertheless, from daily perspective it seems that deprecation of the Pound will continue at least until the rate will reach the 50% Fibonacci retracement level at 1.3485.
Hourly chart
The Sterling has remained relatively stable against the US Dollar since the beginning of 2018. However, technical indicators suggest that the bearish sentiment might prevail this week, thus sending the pair towards the weekly S1 and the monthly PP at 1.3507 and 1.3459, respectively.
Daily chart
The SWFX sentiment remains bullish in this session, as 51% of traders are still holding long positions. In addition, 56% of pending orders are to buy the Sterling (+2%).
Meanwhile, OANDA traders are increasingly bearish today with 60% short positions (+3%). Saxo Bank clients share the same sentiment with 66% short positions (-1%).
Spreads (avg, pip) / Trading volume / Volatility