GBP/JPY slides towards 163.00 as Brexit woes join sluggish yields

• GBP/JPY holds lower grounds as it pares the biggest daily gains in a week.
• Firmer UK PMIs bolster hawkish BoE bets but Brexit, wage talks probe buyers.
• Mixed Japan data, BoJ concerns join a retreat in yields to weigh on prices.

GBP/JPY bulls take a breather around 163.30, after rising the most in seven days during early Wednesday.

The cross-currency pair’s latest gains could be linked to the upbeat UK data and hawkish concerns surrounding the Bank of England (BoE). However, sluggish yields and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) concerns seem to exert downside pressure on the GBP/JPY prices. Also likely to challenge the pair’s moves are the mixed data from the UK and Japan.

Earlier in the day, Reuters Tankan Manufacturing Index for Japan came in as -5.0 for February versus -6.0 in January. On the same line, Tankan Non-Manufacturing Index eased to 17 for the said month versus 20.0 prior.

Elsewhere, Brexit woes loom as the Eurosceptic Conservatives challenge UK Prime Minister’s talks with the European Union (EU) over the Northern Ireland (NI) border issue. The leader of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party (Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party) said on Tuesday there was still work to be done to find a resolution to a dispute between Britain and the European Union over their post-Brexit trading arrangements with the province, per Reuters.

Alternatively, the preliminary readings of the UK S&P Global/CIPS data for February reported that the Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.2 versus 46.8 expected and 47.0 prior while Services PMI jumped to a seven-month high of 53.3 compared to 48.3 market forecasts and 48.7 previous readings.

Further, Japan’s wage talks and signals for higher payments to workers in Tokyo seem to underpin the need for hawkish Bank of Japan (BoJ) action even if the latest chatters favor Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s one last shot at the ultra-easy monetary policy before he retires in April.

It should be noted that the expectations of stronger Fed bets and strong US data also underpin the US Treasury bond yields and propel the GBP/JPY prices.

Amid these plays, the US 10-year and two-year treasury bond yields seesaw around the three-month highs marked the previous day while S&P 500 Futures print mild gains despite Wall Street’s negative closing.

Looking ahead, a light calendar and cautious mood ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes may restrict immediate GBP/JPY move. However, the hopes that BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will play one last shot before his retirement seem to underpin the bullish bias.

Technical analysis

A downward-sloping resistance line from late October 2022, close to 163.85 by the press time, challenges GBP/JPY buyers amid overbought RSI (14).