In the near term future, the GBP/USD was expected to continue and reach the weekly R1 simple pivot point at 1.3181.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Report
The British Pound appreciated against the US Dollar, following the BOE Monetary Policy Report data release on Thursday. Note that the surge happened one minute before the official release at 12:00 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate gained 49 pips or 0.38%. The Pound continued trading at the 1.3080 level against the Greenback after the release.
Note that in December the Bank of England faced criticism over a security breach. The Bank's internal audio systems had been expropriated. Thus, hedge funds were able to get aware of the British policymakers' decisions before the official release.
The Bank of England published the Official Bank Rate data which came out in line with the expectations of 0.75%. According to the official release: "the Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 7-2 to maintain Bank Rate at 0.75%. The Committee voted unanimously to maintain the stock of sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at £10 billion. The Committee also voted unanimously to maintain the stock of UK government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, at £435 billion."
Economic Calendar
Relevant data publications for the GBP/USD will resume on Monday. At 15:00 GMT the US ISM Manufacturing PMI could cause a move on the GBP/USD from 16.2 to 28.9 pips.GBP/USD short-term review
From the one hand, it is likely that some downside potential could prevail in the market. In this case it is unlikely that the currency pair could go below the 1.3045/1.3072 area due to the support cluster formed by the 55-, 100– and 200-hour SMAs, as well the weekly PP.Hourly Chart