The USD index looks set to finish the trading week on a strong footing
EURUSD
After two days of a modest downside correction, dollar demand has reemerged on Friday. The USD index looks set to finish the trading week on a strong footing. Against this backdrop, the euro came under renewed selling pressure to erase yesterday’s gains early in Europe. The pair is back targeting the 1.1300 figure, also pressured by dovish comments from ECB’s Lagarde. However, should this level withstand the current pressure, the pair may see a bounce in the short term. As of writing, the common currency was changing hands around 1.1320, down 0.43% on the day. On the upside, the immediate resistance arrives in the 1.1375-1.1385 area, followed by the 1.1400 figure. The daily RSI is flirting with the 30 figure, suggesting the pair could see deeper losses before a reversal takes place. The overall trend remains bearish.
GBPUSD
The cable came under the downside pressure following three days of gains. The pair failed to settle above the 1.3500 figure amid the resurgent demand for the greenback despite risk sentiment has improved somehow in the global financial markets ahead of the weekend. Now, GBPUSD needs to hold above the 1.3430 area in order to avoid a deeper retreat under 1.3400. However, bearish risks persist as long as the prices stay below the descending 20-DMA, currently at 1.3560. Earlier this month, the pound was strongly rejected from this moving average, suggesting the pair would need a significant driver to make a decisive break above the barrier. In a wider picture, the outlook keeps worsening despite the cable looks set to finish the week with marginal gains.
USDJPY
USDJPY managed to hold above the 20-DMA and saw a bounce that took the prices back above the 114.00 figure. On Friday, the dollar retains a bullish bias, flirting with the 114.50 intermediate barrier during the European hours. A break above this zone on a daily closing basis would pave the way towards March 2017 highs seen earlier this week just below the 115.00 figure. On the downside, the greenback needs to hold above 114.00 while the key support is represented by the mentioned moving average, currently at 113.90. On the hourly charts, USDJPY stays above the key SMAs while the RSI turned directionless in neutral territory, suggesting the upside potential could be limited in the immediate term.
BTCUSD
Bitcoin prices have been losing ground for the sixth day in a row on Friday. Earlier in the week, the digital coin failed to hold above the 20-DMA, and the selling pressure has intensified since then. Today, the cryptocurrency fell to the $55,600 area for the first time since mid-October. However, the prices managed to stage a bounce and climbed back above the $57,000 figure in recent trading, trading just below the flat-line. Of note, the daily RSI is pointing lower but hasn’t entered oversold territory just yet, suggesting there is scope for further downside in the near term. In this context, the ascending 100-DMA is in the market focus for the time being. This moving average, currently around $53,000, could attract buying pressure and trigger a bounce. As a reminder, bitcoin derived support from this SMA in late September to extend gains to the mentioned all-time tops eventually.
USDCAD
USDCAD briefly jumped to early-October highs around 1.2645 on Thursday but failed to preserve gains and corrected lower amid profit-taking. The pair finished just below the 1.2600 figure, but as dollar demand has reemerged, the prices turned positive on Friday. USDCAD is back targeting the mentioned highs and was last seen changing hands around 1.2625, up 0.20% on the day. In a wider picture, the technical outlook keeps improving, with the pair looking set to finish the fourth consecutive week with gains. Furthermore, the prices are now above the 20-week SMA, adding to a bullish picture on the weekly timeframes. In the immediate term, however, the pair could see a local retreat if traders opt to take some profit ahead of the weekend.
