GBP/USD clings to gains near multi-week tops, around mid-1.2400s post-US data

• Reports that the EU is ready to grant another Brexit extension provided a fresh boost.
• The USD held on the defensive despite rising US bond yields and remained supportive.
• Friday's mixed US retail sales data failed to provide any meaningful impetus to the major.

The GBP/USD pair held on to its strong gains through the mid-European session and was now seen consolidating near the top end of its daily trading range near mid-1.2400s, or multi-week tops.

Brexit optimism continues to underpin GBP

The British Pound came back in the spotlight on the last trading day of the week after reports suggested that the European Union is prepared to grant another extension to the UK to prevent a no-deal Brexit. This added to the recent optimism, wherein the UK lawmakers passed a law to stop a no-deal Brexit and provided a fresh boost to the Sterling.
 
The pair finally broke out of its three-day-old trading range and took along some short-term trading stops being placed near the 1.2370-80 supply zone. This coupled with the prevailing US Dollar selling bias - despite a follow-through pickup in the US Treasury bond yields - further collaborated to the pair's up-move to the highest level since July 25.

Meanwhile, Friday's upbeat headline retails sales figures, showing a rise of 0.4% in August as compared to 0.2% expected, was largely negated by a slight disappointment from core retail sales figures. Moreover, the closely watched Retail Sales Control Group matched consensus estimates and did little to provide any respite to the greenback. 
 
Nevertheless, with Friday's strong up-move, the pair remains on track to end the week on a positive note and register second consecutive week of strong gains as market participants now start repositioning for next week's key event risk - the FOMC policy meeting on September 17-18.

Technical levels to watch