GBP/USD well supported, attempting the 1.65 handle

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - ="">GBP/USD had suffered a surprise bout of selling through the crosses earlier. A number of contributing factors perhaps?

The UK didn’t impress very much from the calendar in Europe and recent dovishness from g>Carney had put been keeping the unit on tender hooks. EUR/GBP month end buying perhaps as well? Meanwhile, the pair has continued to find demand with a solid foundation on a 61.8% retracement of the 1.6309-1.6667 move at the 1.6446 fib. In Europe, The UK got a drop in Mortgage Approvals in December compared to the consensus with 71.638k coming in against 73.000k expected. Consumer Credit in December also disappointed £0.6B to the consensus of £0.7B. The price action in GBP/JPY related to EM’s weakening may have been a factor as well taken the GBP/USD below 1.6500, a UK clearer noted as the main contributor on the offer which took the pair to a low of 1.6445. The pair has since managed the 1.6500 territory once again with there being a mixed bag of US data hitting the wires since. Worse than expected Jobless claims for Jan 24th at 348k against a median forecast of 330k and coupled with a downside miss in GDP with a rise of 3.2%. Next up, US Pending Home Sales.

GBP/USD Levels

The 20 DMA is 1.6469, the 50 DMA is 1.6402 and the 200 DMA is 1.5810. RSI (14) reads 50.27. Supports are ascending from 1.6446, 1.6469 and 1.6489. spot is currently 1.6695 while resistances are 1.6508, 1.6526, 1.6558, 1.6606, 1.6627, 1.6667 and 1.6694.