GBP/JPY continues to recover from its monthly low of 160.50 due to rising rates and UK GDP

As the yen weakens against major currencies in the early hours of Wednesday, bids for GBP/JPY increase, pushing the pair to a fresh intraday high over 160.40. Due to worries of Japanese intervention, the cross-currency pair rises from a two-week low.

With a 5.8% month-over-month decline in August, Japan's machinery orders had their steepest monthly decline in six months. The annual results, however, were equally depressing and behind both the year before and market expectations by 12.6%.

It is noteworthy that the negative Japanese results were followed with polling information indicating negativity for the Asian superpower, which caused the GBP/JPY to increase. According to Reuters, a monthly survey that closely resembles the closely watched Tankan quarterly survey conducted by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) revealed that the outlook for manufacturers is expected to worsen over the next three months, while the outlook for the service sector is expected to continue to improve.

US 2-year Treasury yields, on the other hand, reversed the previous day's decline from a two-week high, falling as low as 4.30 percent. The Nikkei 225 and mildly bid US equity futures could potentially be related to the recent strength of the quotation.

However, as recently hinted by Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, forthcoming market action by Japanese officials appears to present a problem for GBP/JPY purchasers, according to Jiji Press. The Bank of England's (BOE) most recent setbacks and a cautious view ahead of the UK's monthly data dump could possibly be weighing on the pair.

By emphasizing the Financial Policy Committee's (FPC) decision to interfere in the financial market after noting that market volatility exceeded the bank stress test, BOE Governor Andrew Bailey's late-Tuesday statement increased the risk-averse attitude. The similar pattern was followed when the BOE expanded its gilt operation to include inflation-linked gilts for the remainder of its involvement (due to finish on 14 October, UK time).

Future monthly figures for the UK's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which are expected to drop from 0.2% to 0.0% in August, will be combined with those for that month's Manufacturing Production and Industrial Production to affect the GBP/JPY exchange rate right away. The actions taken by Japanese policymakers to stop the JPY from weakening will be equally important.

The GBP/JPY pair is expected to weaken overall as a result of more pessimism in the United Kingdom than in Japan.