GBPUSD Refuses to Drop Below 1.30

At the time of writing, the GBPUSD pair was seen marginally higher on the day, erasing earlier losses and turning positive. 

Data released earlier by the UK Office for National Statistics showed that consumer price inflation rose to 7% in March as energy and food prices surged. That was the sharpest jump since 1992, up from 6.2% in February and above analysts' expectations of 6.7%.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile items such as food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco, rose to 5.7% in March from 5.2% the month before and was above consensus expectations of 5.4%. 

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: "Broad-based price rises saw annual inflation increase sharply again in March. Amongst the largest increases were petrol costs, with prices mostly collected before the recent cut in fuel duty, and furniture."

Should the Pound drop below the 1.30 threshold, larger stop-losses of long positions could be hit, likely dragging the pair further lower toward 1.2860.

Alternatively, if bulls manage to defend the 1.30 zone and push sterling higher, the first resistance is expected at the steep downtrend line at 1.3050. The critical medium-term selling zone seems to be at previous lows in the 1.32 region.