Forex: GBP/USD rising towards yesterday’s high at 1.5546

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Sentiment picked up and the GBP/USD moved above the 1.5500 handle and the London morning high of 1.5518 on the New York opening. The pair has reached ground at 1.5530 area, so far, and is closer to yesterday’s high of 1.5546.

The Conference Board has reported a much better than expected consumer confidence in April, with an improvement from 61.9 (revised from 59.7) to 68.1, instead of a move to 60.8 as expected. The April Chicago PMI has dropped below the 50.0 threshold, from 52.4 to 49.0, instead of rising to 52.5 as expected. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices, housing prices have risen by 9.3% in February, beating market consensus of 9.0% and increasing the rising pace from last month’s 8.1%.

UK money supply fell -0.9% (from -0.5%) in March (MoM), instead of rising 0.4%. YoY data eased from 0.5% to 0.3%. Consumer credit came in at £0.5B as expected and net lending to individuals eased from £1.5B to £0.9B. UK mortgage approvals rose from 51.947K to 53.504K, beating 52.500K consensus.

“The recent rise is still viewed as a rebound. A key resistance can be found at 1.5689 (13/02/2013 high, see also 200 day moving average)”, wrote MIG Bank analysts Bijoy Kar and Luc Luyet, “Hourly supports can be found at 1.5419 (26/04/2013 low) and 1.5335 (intraday high, see also the low of the rising channel)”, they added.