GBP/JPY STUCK BELOW 194.00 AS MARKETS LOOK AHEAD TO BOE

• GBP/JPY floundered after a late start to the week’s UK markets.
• UK Retail Sales disappoint, crimping bullish GBP momentum.
• BoE, UK GDP still on the cards this week.

GBP/JPY flubbed a bullish run at the 194.00 handle, floundering in recent technical congestion as the pair struggles to develop momentum. UK Retail Sales figures missed the mark when UK investors returned to markets after a long weekend, keeping the Pound Sterling (GBP) pinned.

All is quiet on the Japanese Yen (JPY) front after two suspected “Yenterventions” from the Bank of Japan (BoJ) recently; The BoJ has thus far refused to officially confirm or deny intervention in global currency markets in an effort to prop up the battered Yen, but BoJ financing reporting revealed the Japanese central bank overspent on ambiguous market operations by around nine billion Yen.

The Bank of England (BoE) is due this week with another rate call. The central bank of the UK is broadly expected to vote 8-to-1 for a rate hold as the BoE grapples with a wobbly inflation outlook plaguing the UK’s economy.

Later this week will also be a fresh print of UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, slated for Friday’s early London market session. UK GDP for the first quarter is expected to print at 0.4% QoQ, rebounding from the previous quarter’s -0.3% backslide