GBP/JPY renews multi-month top around 152.00 amid upbeat sentiment, UK data dump eyed

• GBP/JPY stays bid for ten consecutive days, pokes April 2018 peak.

• Vaccine optimism, stimulus news propel the bulls amid a light calendar in Asia.

• UK activity, GDP numbers for January will be important, US President Bidens speech is the key.

GBP/JPY refreshed record top with 151.89, currently around 151.80, during the ten-day winning streak amid Friday‘s Asian session. Although there are fewer positives from the UK to cheer, an overall boost to the risks could be traced for the pair’s upbeat performance ahead of the important monthly economics from Britain.

Among the risk-positives, US President Joe Bidens signing of $1.9 trillion covid stimulus and market chatters of incoming $2.5 infrastructure spending plan propelled Wall Street benchmarks.

Also on the positive side could be the recent news suggesting top-tier vaccine efficacies to tame the UK covid strain. Novavax update was the latest in the line suggesting 96.4% effectiveness over the original British variant of the virus as well as around 85% success in tackling the various versions of the UK virus developed afterward.

It should be noted that the White House comments suggesting US President Joe Bidens readiness to announce “back to normal” by early July, as well as complete vaccinations for all Americans before May 01, also boost the market sentiment.

On the contrary, the Australia-China and the Sino-American tension joins the ECBs hidden concerns for reflation, coupled with the strong US 10-year Treasury yields, to challenge the mood.

Moving on, the UK data-dump is likely to mark disappointment while conveying figures for the lockdown period. The same should join the British manufacturers hardships due to the Brexit and the EU-UK tension over the Northern Ireland (NI) protocol to test the GBP/JPY bulls.

It‘s worth mentioning that US President Joe Biden’s speech, up for publishing at 01:00 AM GMT, is likely to convey market optimism and may help GBP/JPY to remain strong.

Technical analysis

Unless breaking a two-week-old ascending trend line near 151.00, GBP/JPY bulls can keep late-April 2018 high surrounding 152.75 on the radars.

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