January 29, 2021 - Written by David Woodsmith
While safe haven demand has been rising on market uncertainty in recent sessions, this did not stop the British Pound to Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate from jumping to its best levels in almost a year. While the Yen is typically more correlated with market sentiment than domestic news, a slew of negative Japanese data combined with some US Dollar (USD) strength left the Yen unappealing.
After opening this week at the level of 142.00, GBP/JPY briefly dipped lower but has since been spending the week trending higher and higher.
Due to a combination of the Pound’s surprising resilience in recent weeks, and strength in the Yen’s rival the US Dollar, GBP/JPY touched on a new 11-month-best of 143.38. This was the best level for the pair since February 2020, and with February 2021 right around the corner it shows that GBP/JPY may have recovered the past year’s losses.