Trims a part of strong intraday gains, faces rejection near 182.00

• GBP/JPY gains strong positive traction and spikes to a four-day high after the BoJ decision.
• The mixed technical setup warrants some caution for bulls and positioning for further gains.
• A convincing break below the 181.15 support will shift the bias in favour of bearish traders.

The GBP/JPY cross rallies nearly 200 pips from the vicinity of the 180.00 psychological mark and touches a multi-day peak in reaction to the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) decision to maintain the status quo. Spot prices, however, lose traction and retreat from the 182.00 neighbourhood as BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda’s post-meeting press conference gets underway.

From a technical perspective, the strong intraday move up and acceptance above the 181.00 mark confirms a breakout through a multi-day-old consolidative trading range. That said, oscillators on the daily chart are still holding deep in the negative territory. This makes it prudent to wait for strong follow-through buying before confirming that the GBP/JPY cross has formed a bottom and positioning for an extension of the recent bounce from the 178.35 region, or the lowest level since October touched last week.

In the meantime, momentum beyond the 182.00 mark is likely to confront some resistance near the 182.60 horizontal zone ahead of the 183.00 mark. A sustained strength beyond the latter could lift the GBP/JPY cross to the 183.60-183.65 region en route to the 184.00 round figure and last week’s swing high, around the 184.30-184.35 zone.

On the flip side, any meaningful pullback now seems to find decent support near the 181.15-181.10 region. A convincing break below will make the GBP/JPY cross vulnerable to accelerate the fall further towards the 180.00 mark. Some follow-through selling below the 179.75 area might expose the 179.00 level and the multi-month low, around the 178.35 region set last Thursday.

GBP/JPY daily chart

Technical levels to watch