The Sterling pound today headed lower at the start of the session, driven by the risk-off market sentiment from yesterday as investors reacted to escalating US-China tensions. The GBP/USD currency pair later recovered and rallied higher primarily driven by the greenback’s oscillating between gains and losses as it ignored upbeat UK jobs data.
The GBP/USD currency pair today rallied from a low of 1.2520 to a high of 1.2623 before giving up all its gains to trade in negative territory at the time of writing.
The currency pair headed lower initially due to the low investor risk appetite, given the rising Sino-US geopolitical tensions. The release of the UK labour market report for June had a muted impact on the pair, which kept falling. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s unemployment rate remained the same at 3.9%, while the number of jobless claims fell by 28,100 versus the expected 250,000 print. The pair rallied higher from the mid-London session while the greenback fell as tracked by the US Dollar Index, which hit a low of 95.89.
The release of the upbeat US retail sales data for June by the Census Bureau had a minimal impact on the cable, which was rising at the time. The pair later fell as the US dollar rallied higher driven by risk-off market sentiment, which saw equity markets head lower.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by geopolitical events given tomorrow’s empty UK dockets.
The GBP/USD currency pair was trading at 1.2550 as at 18:55 GMT, having fallen from a high of 1.2623. The GBP/JPY currency pair was trading at 134.77, having rallied from a low of 134.05.
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