GBP\/USD steadied near 1.3470 in Asian trading on Friday after three days of losses, holding above 1.3450. The move followed UK Retail Sales data for March.<\/p>\n
UK Retail Sales rose 0.7% month-on-month in March after a revised 0.6% fall in February, compared with a forecast of 0.1%. Annual Retail Sales increased 1.7% in March versus a revised 1.8% previously, and ahead of the 1.3% expected.<\/p>\n
Core Retail Sales, excluding auto fuel, increased 0.2% month-on-month after a revised 0.6% decline. Annual core Retail Sales rose 1.7% in March, down from a revised 2.7% in February.<\/p>\n
The pair traded around 1.3465, just above a near two-week low set the prior day. It remained below the 1.3600 area and the two-month high of 1.3599.<\/p>\n
Market focus also remained on the Middle East, including a temporary extension of the US-Iran ceasefire and tensions linked to an American blockade of Iranian ports. The US-Iran dispute over the Strait of Hormuz was also noted.<\/p>\n
Looking back to early 2025, we saw optimism for Pound Sterling, with strong retail sales data suggesting a potential rebound toward 1.3600. That sentiment was based on a temporary economic boost that did not last. As of today, April 24, 2026, GBP\/USD is trading significantly lower, around 1.2550, showing how quickly market conditions can change.<\/p>\n
The Bank of England is now holding its interest rate at 5.25%, a level maintained for several months due to persistent inflation. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) at 2.3%, still stubbornly above the 2% target. This makes any upcoming rate cuts uncertain and caps the Pound’s potential upside.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the pair, the US Federal Reserve is also signaling a “higher for longer” stance with its funds rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range. US economic data remains more robust than in the UK, strengthening the dollar. This interest rate difference continues to make the dollar a more attractive currency for yield-seeking investors.<\/p>\n
Given the uncertainty from both central banks, we should expect continued volatility in the coming weeks. Derivative traders could consider buying options to play on price swings around key data releases, such as the upcoming inflation reports for both countries. Implied volatility is likely to increase, making strategies that benefit from price movement, rather than direction, attractive.<\/p>\n
With the dollar’s underlying strength, positioning for further downside or range-bound price action seems prudent. We could look at buying put options to hedge against a fall below 1.2400. Alternatively, selling call options with strike prices around the 1.2700 resistance level could generate income if the pair fails to break higher.<\/p>\n
The geopolitical tensions mentioned last year regarding Iran have evolved into a broader global uncertainty that continues to support the US dollar as a safe-haven asset. We saw a similar flight to the dollar during previous periods of instability, such as in 2022. This backdrop suggests any significant strength in the Pound Sterling will likely be limited in the near term.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GBP\/USD steadied near 1.3470 after losses, supported by stronger UK March retail sales; Middle East tensions linger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET","POST","PUT","PATCH","DELETE"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}