FX round-up: Lack of data release makes way for indecisive Cable moves

On Friday sterling managed to recover most of its losses against the US dollar from prior session posting a morning high of 1.3020, only managing to touch psychological resistance of 1.3000 briefly.

Orders look to be triggered at that area as price action showed sellers eating up any buy orders trying in a futile attempt get to above 1.3000.

Public sector borrowing figures out on Friday showed a deficit of £6.3bn which was far above the consensus forecast of £4.3bn. This had marginal impact on Cable, with the pair only managing a 27 pip move higher to hit that morning high. The low for the day was 1.2959 as at 1630 BST.

Thursday's euro excitement seems to have slowed somewhat today with the single currency only managing a 0.24% gain on the dollar by 1700 BST to trade at 1.1658. Longs seem to be holding on for now as the pair trades near two year highs.

EUR/USD has seen a meteoric rise this year after starting 2017 at 1.0412 and currently trades past the peak in 2016 (1.1616) and could have its eyes set on the 2015 August high of 1.1720 next.

The Canadian dollar gained some ground against the greenback with the pair trading lower on the back of CPI data showed inflation steady at -0.1%, in line with market expectations. Canadian core retail sales (retail sales excluding automobiles) month on month were down slightly with a print of -0.1% but the retail sales were up 0.6%.

This seems to have given USD/CAD traders confidence to dump the US dollar in favour of the CAD pushing the pair to a daily low of 1.2532, continuing the push lower initiated in May this year.

Risk off sentiment was seen in USD/JPY as the pair continued to push lower to the 111 area, helping to form a double top on the daily timeframe with peaks at 114.32 (11 May) and 114.45 (11 July). Technical traders will be looking for breaks lower in the 110.70 to 109 area.