GBP/JPY inches toward 153.00 amid risk-on mood

• GBP/JPY accumulates gains for the past two sessions
• The sterling benefits from the drop in fresh coronavirus cases.
• Yen remains on backfoot on IMF downgrade and renewed Delta variant threat.

GBP/JPY moves cautiously toward the 153.00 mark in the European trading hour on Thursday. The pair hovers in a narrow trade band.

At the time of writing, the GBP/JPY pair is trading at 152.88, up 0.09% for the day.

The sterling remains firm after the reports that the UK’s coronavirus infections drop for the seventh consecutive day to 23,511 on Tuesday. 

The optimism surrounding Brexit also boosts the sentiment around the British Pound. In the latest development, the EU pauses its two separate lawsuits against the UK.

It is worth noting that, the S&P 500 Futures are trading at 4,389 with 0.10% losses.

On the other hand, the Japanese yen pares its gains after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut Japan’s growth forecast to 2.8% in 2021 from earlier 3.3%.

The Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) Summary of Opinions reveals policymakers worries over the economic recovery due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

On the economic data front, Japan’s Leading Index eases in May to 102.6 from 103.8 in April.

As for now, the market dynamics continues to influence the pair’s performance.

GBP/JPY additional levels