{"id":31558,"date":"2025-10-04T10:49:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T10:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/uncategorized\/the-gbp-jpy-holds-steady-around-198-00-as-yen-weakens-and-uk-pmi-suggests-slowdown\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T10:49:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T10:49:29","slug":"the-gbp-jpy-holds-steady-around-198-00-as-yen-weakens-and-uk-pmi-suggests-slowdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/live-updates\/the-gbp-jpy-holds-steady-around-198-00-as-yen-weakens-and-uk-pmi-suggests-slowdown\/","title":{"rendered":"The GBP\/JPY holds steady around 198.00 as Yen weakens and UK PMI suggests slowdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GBP\/JPY remains around the 198.00 mark after recovering from a previous low of 197.50. The Yen&#8217;s weakness is attributed to Japan&#8217;s August Unemployment Rate increasing to 2.6%, surpassing the expected 2.4% and rising from 2.3% in July.<\/p>\n<p>The British Pound has difficulty gaining momentum as the UK Composite PMI fell to 50.1, a five-month low, while the Services PMI dropped to 50.8. GBP\/JPY halts a four-day decline, stabilising near 198.00, after reaching its lowest point since August 7.<\/p>\n<h3>Technical Analysis<\/h3>\n<p>Technical analysis shows GBP\/JPY attempting to maintain levels above 198.00. A breakdown below this may target the previous low of 197.50, while resistance around 198.50 aligns with the 21-period Simple Moving Average.<\/p>\n<p>The Japanese Yen&#8217;s value is affected by various factors, including Japan&#8217;s economic performance, the Bank of Japan&#8217;s policies, and differences in bond yields between Japan and the US. The Yen is often viewed as a safe-haven asset, gaining strength during market stress.<\/p>\n<p>Forex trading involves numerous risks, and individuals should engage in personal research before making financial decisions. Data provided is for informational purposes and does not imply trading recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>We see the GBP\/JPY cross currently stuck, with both currencies showing signs of weakness. The UK&#8217;s slowing economy, reflected in the September 2025 composite PMI dropping to a five-month low of 50.1, is weighing on the Pound. This suggests that option traders could consider selling call spreads above the 199.00 resistance level to bet on limited upside potential.<\/p>\n<h3>The Economic Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>The Bank of England&#8217;s last meeting in September 2025 held rates at 4.75%, but the minutes revealed growing concern over the economic slowdown. This dovish tilt means any rallies in the Pound may be short-lived and present selling opportunities. For traders, this reinforces the idea that the path of least resistance for the pair is to the downside over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side, the Yen is not showing much strength either, given Japan&#8217;s unemployment rate just rose to 2.6%. We also note that Japan&#8217;s core CPI for August 2025 came in at 2.7%, which, while still above the Bank of Japan&#8217;s target, is cooling from the highs seen earlier in the year. This gives the BoJ room to be very gradual in unwinding its loose monetary policies, capping the Yen&#8217;s strength for now.<\/p>\n<p>The main wildcard is the ongoing US government shutdown, which is increasing demand for safe-haven assets. We remember the 35-day shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, which boosted the Yen significantly against other currencies. A break below the 197.50 support level could trigger a sharp move down, making protective put options an attractive strategy to hedge against a sudden rush into the Yen.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/trade-now\/\">Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.vtmarkets.com\/login\">start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GBP\/JPY steadies near 198.00 as weak Yen offsets poor UK PMI; technical resistance lies at 198.50.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":17054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}