• GBP/USD continues to move sideways near 1.2800 early Friday. 
• May jobs report from the US could drive the pair’s action heading into the weekend.
• Pound Sterling needs to flip 1.2800 into support to attract buyers.

GBP/USD failed to make a decisive move in either direction and closed the day virtually unchanged on Thursday. The pair continues to fluctuate in a narrow channel slightly below 1.2800 early Friday as investors stay on the sidelines while waiting for the May jobs report from the US.

British Pound PRICE This week

The table below shows the percentage change of British Pound (GBP) against listed major currencies this week. British Pound was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.35%	-0.35%	-1.20%	0.37%	-0.18%	-0.87%	-1.54%
EUR	0.35%		0.03%	-0.83%	0.72%	0.04%	-0.53%	-1.21%
GBP	0.35%	-0.03%		-0.79%	0.69%	0.08%	-0.62%	-1.24%
JPY	1.20%	0.83%	0.79%		1.55%	1.08%	0.46%	-0.18%
CAD	-0.37%	-0.72%	-0.69%	-1.55%		-0.58%	-1.24%	-1.92%
AUD	0.18%	-0.04%	-0.08%	-1.08%	0.58%		-0.58%	-1.27%
NZD	0.87%	0.53%	0.62%	-0.46%	1.24%	0.58%		-0.72%
CHF	1.54%	1.21%	1.24%	0.18%	1.92%	1.27%	0.72%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the British Pound from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent GBP (base)/USD (quote).

The US Dollar (USD) struggled to find demand on Thursday but the cautious market stance helped it limit its losses, not allowing GBP/USD to gather bullish momentum. Early Friday, US stock index futures trade little changed, reflecting a neutral risk mood.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish labor market data for May later in the day. Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) are forecast to rise 185,000 following April’s disappointing 175,000 increase. Following this week’s mixed macroeconomic data releases from the US, the probability of the Federal Reserve leaving its policy rate unchanged in September declined to 32% from 45%.

A weak NFP print of 150,000, or lower, could point to loosening conditions in the labor market and weigh on the USD, helping GBP/USD gain traction in the American session. On the flip side, an upbeat NFP reading of above-200,000 could provide a boost to the USD and force the pair to stretch lower.

GBP/USD Technical Analysis

The mid-point of the ascending regression channel aligns as key resistance at around 1.2800. In case the pair rises above that level and starts using it as support, technical buyers could show interest. In this scenario, 1.2850 (static level) could act as interim resistance before 1.2900 (upper limit of the ascending channel).

On the downside, the 50-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) on the 4-hour chart could be seen as first support before 1.2730 (lower limit of the ascending channel, 100-period SMA) and 1.2700 (static level, psychological level).