GBP/USD: Buyers cheer Brexit progress ahead of US employment data

• Theresa May’s ability to join hands with the opposition seems to deliver soft Brexit and please the Pound buyers.
• US NFP could gain market attention as the GBP/USD pair trades between 200-day and 50-day SMA.

The British Pound (GBP) is trading near 1.3100 versus the US Dollar (USD) while heading into London open on Friday. The GBP/USD pair has been positive since the start and is at the intra-day high during the press time as buyers cheer recent Brexit developments signalling an end to Brexit deadlock. However, the all-important employment data from the US is still left pending for release and becomes crucial for markets.

Ever since the UK PM Theresa May joined hands with the opposition Labour party to move forward on the Brexit task, there has been a marked improvement in the pace of supportive political efforts.

As reported by the Daily Mail, joint discussions between the UK PM May and the opposition Labour party head Jeremy Corbyn are likely to deliver a formal request to the EU relating to the extension of the April 12 Brexit deadline. On the other hand, the BBC recently reported that the European Council President Donald Tusk is proposing to offer the UK a 12-month "flexible" extension to its Brexit date.

Additionally, investors also took advantage of the USD pullback due to market risk-on based upon the likelihood of the US-China trade deal.

The US 10-year treasury yield, a barometer of the market risk-on, advanced 2 basis points to 2.531% during early-day moves.

Other than the Brexit developments, March month employment details from the US will also be crucial for the GBP/USD pair. The jobs report registered a disappointing 20K figure for the headline non-farm payrolls (NFP) during February month. The same NFP figure bears market consensus to print 180K mark whereas the average hourly earnings and the unemployment rate are both expected to remain intact at 3.4% and 3.8% respectively.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis

Other than a week-long ascending trend-line support at 1.3070, the GBP/USD pair may also find strong downside back from 200-day simple moving average (SMA) figure of 1.2980. Though, 1.3000 round-figure may offer an intermediate halt.

On the contrary, 50-day SMA level of 1.3100 and a three-week-old downward sloping trend-line near 1.3195 – 1.3200 could limit the quote’s near-term upside.