GBP/USD aims for 1.3200 as UK MPs pass Cooper Bill
- British MPs remove another barrier to no-deal Brexit while talks between the PM May and opposition leader Corbyn are underway.
- Optimism surrounding soft Brexit favors the Pound buyers.
GBP/USD is on the bids around 1.3175 at the start of the Asian trading session on Thursday. The Cable surged nearly 30 pips to the high of 1.3180 after members of the UK parliament (MPs) pass Cooper Bill that prevents no-deal Brexit.
The British House of Commons received 313 ayes versus 312 nos during the final phase of voting on the Yvette Cooper Bill.
The Yvette Cooper Bill is a bid to prevent a no-deal Brexit by extending the negotiation process beyond April 12, the date Britain is scheduled to leave the EU if no deal is agreed upon. This bill was also aimed to allow the British PM Theresa May to reach EU for another deadline if necessary.
On Wednesday, GBP/USD stretched its recovery forward despite headline Markit services PMI from the UK declining to 48.90 signalling contraction of activities. The reason could be growing expectations of a soft Brexit and/or weak prints of the US ADP employment change and ISM non-manufacturing PMI. The British PM May has joined hands with the opposition Labour party in order to break the Brexit deadlock.
The team comprising headline Tory members from the PM May’s side and influential Labour lawmakers from the opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s side are discussing ways to confront the Brexit problem and future plans considering April 12 deadline.
Having fewer or say no major data on hand, markets may continue giving higher importance to the Brexit proceedings in order to foresee near-term GBP/USD moves. The newly conducted May-Corbyn alliance for the Brexit is discussing their way forward and hasn’t delivered anything critical yet. However, as the departure date of April 12 comes nearer, everybody in the Britain is worried as they still don’t have any bill to table while the EU has already rejected renegotiation.
It should also be noted that the US initial jobless claims are expected to increase to 216K from 211K during the week ended on March 29.
GBP/USD Technical Analysis
Considering the quote’s gradual increase since March-end, chances of its another confrontation to the descending trend-line stretched since March 13, at 1.3210 now, are high. Should it break 1.3210, 1.3270, 1.3330 and 1.3380 are likely following numbers buyers can target.
On the downside, 50-day simple moving average (SMA) around 1.3100 is likely immediate important support followed by 1.3030, 1.3000 and 200-day SMA level of 1.2980.