Sterling is trading just below the key level of 1.3000 after the US labor market created 201K new jobs and the US wages increased 2.9% over the year in August, beating the market expectations. Earlier on Friday Sterling was boosted by EU Barnier’s showing flexibility on Irish border proposals. immediate support is now pegged near the 1.2950-45 region, which if broken might negate prospects for any further up-move and drag the pair back towards the 1.2900 round figure mark. On the flip side, momentum back above the 1.30 handle, leading to a subsequent move beyond session high level of 1.3028 has the potential to continue lifting the pair further towards reclaiming the 1.3100 handle en-route the 1.3125-30 supply zone.
The GBP/USD pair faded a knee-jerk spike to levels beyond the key 1.30 psychological mark and quickly retreated around 40-50 pips from over one-week tops touched earlier today.
The British Pound rallied hard across the board after the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that they are open to discussing other backstops with regards to the Irish border and that a no-deal scenario is "not our scenario".
The up-move, however, started losing steam near the 1.3025-30 zone, with the latest US monthly jobs report providing a minor boost to the US Dollar and exerting some downward pressure during the early North-American session.
The headline NFP print showed that the US economy added 201K new jobs in August, much higher than 157K in July and better than 191K anticipated.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 3.9% as against a tick lower to 3.8% but was largely negated by stronger than expected average hourly earnings growth of 2.9% y/y, reinforcing hawkish Fed outlook.