GBP/USD bears the burden of Easter recess, symmetrical triangle in play

• Easter break at the UK parliament offers lesser Brexit catalysts.
• Two-week-old symmetrical triangle restricts the moves between 1.3040–1.3110 range.

The GBP/USD pair trades near 1.3070 ahead of the London open on Friday. The pair declined the previous day on the overall strength of the US Dollar (USD). However, Easter recess in the UK parliament offered little movement since the day-start. Traders could focus on the US data and any Brexit headlines generated intermediately.

Cold response to the EU’s October 31 Brexit deadline extension and no major breakthrough from cross-party talks confined the Cable’s upside on early-Thursday whereas upbeat data from the US further weakened the pair afterward.

At the initial hours of Friday, traders got less of Brexit headlines as the British parliament is on a recess until April 23. However, news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde praised Brexit delay provided pullback to the British Pound (GBP).

On the contrary, The Times reports that the British Conservative leader Boris Johnson help private talks with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) got little response.

With no major economics up for release from the UK, preliminary reading of the US Michigan consumer sentiment index can gain market attention. The consumer sentiment gauge may soften to 98.00 from 98.4 prior.

Due to the lack of catalysts from the UK, market drivers from the US could provide higher impact and should be observed closely.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis

On the break of support-line of an immediate triangle ranging from March 29, at 1.3040, the sellers may aim for 1.3000 and 200-day SMA level of 1.2975.

Meanwhile, 50-day simple moving average (SMA) figure of 1.3090 and pattern resistance since March 27 at 1.3110 could act as adjacent caps. Should prices rally beyond 1.3110, 1.3125, 1.3150 and 1.3200 are likely consecutive numbers that could lure buyers.