GBP/JPY extends into further multi-year highs on Thursday

GBP/JPY touches fresh 16-year highs as Yen continues to backslide.
Japanese Retail Trade ticked higher, Tokyo CPI inflation next on the docket.
UK GDP revision slated for Friday, little change expected.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

GBP/JPY tapped a fresh 16-year high of 203.39 on Thursday as the Yen continues ot get pushed lower across the board. An uptick in Japanese Retail Sales early Thursday failed to spark a recovery in the Yen as JPY traders buckle down for the last print of Japan’s Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation due early Friday.

The UK will also be delivering a fresh revision to first-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, but little change is expected and Q1 UK GDP is expected to hold steady at 0.6%, in-line with the initial print.

Core Tokyo CPI is expected to tick upwards slightly to 2.0% YoY in June, but the upswing is likely not enough to push the Bank of Japan (BoJ) out of its stubborn, long-running hypereasy monetary policy stance. With BoJ reference rates functionally at zero and a significant ratio of Japanese government bonds scooped up by the Japanese central bank itself, the Yen’s battered stance is unlikely to change, regardless of a carousel of increasingly concerned threats of direct intervention in FX markets by Japan’s Ministry of Finance.

Economic Indicator

Tokyo Consumer Price Index (YoY)

The Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI), released by the Statistics Bureau of Japan on a monthly basis, measures the price fluctuation of goods and services purchased by households in the Tokyo region. The index is widely considered as a leading indicator of Japan’s overall CPI as it is published weeks before the nationwide reading. The YoY reading compares prices in the reference month to the same month a year earlier. Generally, a high reading is seen as bullish for the Japanese Yen (JPY), while a low reading is seen as bearish.

GBP/JPY technical outlook

The Guppy has traded so firmly traded into the bullish side in one-sided action that the pair has not pulled back to the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) since the start of 2024 when the pair briefly eased below the 180.00 handle before proceeding to climb over 13% from January’s opening bids at 179.55.

GBP/JPY has set a fresh 16-year high for five consecutive days in lopsided bullish action, and the pair has likewise chalked in nine straight green trading days as the pair continues to climb into multi-year peaks.

GBP/JPY hourly chart

GBP/JPY daily chart

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.