FX roundup: Sterling shrugs off Xmas cheer to continue annus horribilis
Sterling's annus horribilis is continuing in the normally cheery week before Christmas as it dived on most major crosses Tuesday afternoon, and looks set to plumb new depths in the New Year.
At 17:03 GMT, sterling was down 0.33% to $1.2354, and down 0.25% to €1.1885. It flopped on the commodity units of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, but rose on Japan's yen.
"Sterling has received a pummelling from the Brexit woes this year and is on target to being the second-worst performer among major currency," said FXTM's Lukman Otunuga.
The research analyst said uncertainty haunted investor attraction to the once-proud currency.
"This year’s ongoing battle of words between financial heavyweights on the Brexit topic has added to the anxiety," Otunuga opined.
Investor concerns about a so-called hard Brexit continued to provoke sterling sellers, this agitated by a perceived lack of cue in PM Theresa May's Tory government on the possible EU exit.
"Sterling could be poised for steeper declines moving forward," observed Otunuga, who added that the humbled-since-June British issue appeared vulnerable.
"A rising US dollar could trigger a sharp selloff on the GBPUSD. From a technical standpoint, the $1.2500 resistance has acted as a strong foundation for bears to send prices lower towards $1.2300."
On the data front, Confederation of British Industry retail sales for December jumped sharply from 26 in November coming in at 35, well above expectations.
Meantime, the US' greenback was mixed on key crosses. The dollar-spot index rose 0.14% to $103.280. The dollar rose on the euro, kiwi and yen, but fell on the aussie, loonie and safa.
The dollar had risen most against the yen after Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, while updating its economic outlook for the Japanese economy.
"The (overall) rebound appears to have accelerated in the last 24 hours in the wake of yesterday’s speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen to students in Baltimore where she waxed lyrical about the health of the US jobs market," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
"This bullishness on her part would appear to suggest that more rate rises could well be on the way in fairly short order, and in so doing has pushed the US dollar index to new 14 year highs," he added.