Sterling bounced strongly on Thursday after reaching lows near psychological 1.4000 support against dollar and extended rally in Friday’s Asian session near strong 1.4300 barrier, after a member of British parliament was shot dead on Thursday. Pound received strong boost as campaign for next week’s referendum was suspended after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered.
Cox was advocating for Britain remaining in the European Union and her murder shifted pre-referendum tone in favor of Stay camp.
Strong pressure on British Pound ahead of historical referendum has eased, however, markets remain highly volatile, as 23rd June referendum day nears.
Japanese yen, the top performer of Thursday’s trading, holds firm in early Friday and stands near multi-year highs against major counterparts. Yen surged after Fed announced further delay in rate hike and Bank of Japan refrained from adding fresh stimulus.
Yen trades above 104 handle vs dollar in early European session, after falling to 103.50 zone post-BoJ and standing some 200 pips above fresh lows against British Pound at Euro.

Gold was among the biggest losers on Thursday, registering the biggest one-day fall in over three weeks. Spot gold fell over 1% on sharp pullback from fresh nearly two-year high at $1315 that dipped to $1276. Sharp fall of Gold price was triggered by turmoil in the markets, which was caused by murder of British MP.
US Crude oil received support from weaker dollar and bounced off fresh 5-week low at $45.82, rising for the first time in seven days, as concerns about the impact of Britain’s possible exit from the EU eased. Oil price was in red for six consecutive days, on fears of lower demand on Brexit scenario.
Technical studies remain weak and downside risk is expected to persist as long as oil price holds below $49/50 per barrel.
Today’s highlights

Calendar is light for Friday, with EU’s current account being the highlight of European session. Forecast for April expects narrowing current account’s surplus to 24.7billion Euros from March’s 27.3 billion.
Canada’s inflation and US building permits are the top releases of America’s session. CPI in Canada is expected to tick higher in May, on forecast for CPI at 0.5% vs 0.3% in April and Core CPI seen at 0.3% in May vs 0.2% in April.
US Building permits are expected to rise in May, according to forecasted 1.15M, compared to 1.12M in April.

Important levels

GOLD reversed direction and fell sharply on Thursday, after posting new high at $1315. However, strong fall did not make serious damage to overall bulls, with near-term focus being still turned upside.
Pullback’s low lies at $1276, ahead of strong support at $1271, loss of which would signal further easing towards next supports at $1257 and $1253.
At the upside, $1285 marks initial resistance, followed by $1295 and $1300, with the latter marking an upside trigger.

USDJPY consolidates above 103.54 low which was posted on Thursday’s strong fall. Strong bearish sentiment favors further weakness, which may extend towards strong supports at 100.80 and 100.00.
Meantime, extended consolidation is seen limited for now, with initial resistance at 105.40 and first pivot at 106.55.

GBPUSD received strong boost and bounced from 1.4000 zone, which was approached on yesterday’s weakness. Fresh bullish sentiment pushed the price higher on Friday, taking out pivotal 1.4256 barrier. Next strong barriers lay at 1.4300/25 zone and break higher would sideline immediate downside threats.

EURUSD bounced from Thursday’s low at 1.1130, sidelining immediate threats towards strong 1.1100 support zone. Fresh dollar’s weakness eased downside pressure that was mounting during past few sessions.
Strong resistance at 1.1300 zone is back to near-term focus and sustained break here would signal reversal and shift focus towards 1.1347 and 1.1416 barriers.
Initial support lies at 1.1216, followed by 1.1185, which guards yesterday’s spike low at 1.1129., Market Analysis