GBP/JPY Price Forecast: Technical structure turns constructive above 210.00
- GBP/JPY rebounds after a bearish gap-down open as Middle East tensions trigger market volatility.
- Technical outlook improves after breakout from the 207.25-209.50 consolidation range.
- RSI and MACD suggest improving momentum after recent consolidation.
GBP/JPY rebounds sharply on Monday after a bearish gap-down open, as heightened volatility sweeps across the FX market following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend. At the time of writing, the cross trades around 210.80, recovering all of its early losses after falling to a daily low near 209.10.
The Japanese Yen (JPY) fails to sustain its early gains as investors favor the US Dollar (USD) during periods of global stress, while uncertainty surrounding the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) tightening path keeps the Yen under pressure against the British Pound (GBP).
From a technical perspective, GBP/JPY’s outlook turns constructive after last week’s breakout from a two-week consolidation range between 207.25 and 209.50.
Monday’s price action has rebounded from the upper boundary of that former range, which closely aligns with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement at 210.21, measured from the 207.25 swing low to the 215.00 high.
Immediate support is seen at 210.21 (23.6% Fibonacci), followed by 209.08 (38.2% retracement). A sustained move below this level could expose the range base near 207.25.
On the upside, resistance emerges at 211.13 (50% retracement), with stronger barriers at 212.04 (61.8% Fibonacci) and 213.34 (78.6% retracement). A break above these levels could reopen the path toward the 215.00 swing high.
Momentum indicators suggest improving bullish pressure. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has climbed back above the 50 mark, currently near 50.8, signaling a recovery in buying momentum after a mid-range consolidation.
Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line has crossed above the signal line and moved into positive territory, with a gradually expanding histogram indicating strengthening upside momentum.
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy between 2013 and 2024 caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks. More recently, the gradually unwinding of this ultra-loose policy has given some support to the Yen.
Over the last decade, the BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supported a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favored the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen. The BoJ decision in 2024 to gradually abandon the ultra-loose policy, coupled with interest-rate cuts in other major central banks, is narrowing this differential.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
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