• GBP/JPY catches fresh bids following a bearish gap opening in reaction to the UK political chaos.
• Economic risks due to the Middle East conflict weigh heavily on the JPY and support spot prices.
• Intervention fears and BoJ rate hike bets fail to impress the JPY bulls or stall the strong move up.

The GBP/JPY cross rebounds nearly 100 pips from the daily low, filling a modest bearish gap down opening on Monday and hitting a fresh daily high near the 213.70 region during the early European session.

The initial market reaction to reports that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer could announce his resignation as early as today turns out to be short-lived amid a broadly weaker Japanese Yen (JPY). Investors remain worried that Japan's economy will remain under strain due to the Middle East conflict and the continued energy supply disruptions through the Straight of Hormuz. This overshadows intervention fears and hawkish Bank of Japan (BoJ) expectations, undermining the JPY and lending support to the GBP/JPY cross.

In fact, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama reiterated on Monday that the officials are ready to respond appropriately to the currency moves at any time as needed. Meanwhile, Minutes of the April BoJ meeting showed that some board members called for raising rates ‌more swiftly to avoid underlying inflation from overshooting. Moreover, BoJ Deputy Governor Himino said that the central bank will keep hiking rates based on economic, price, and financial trends. This, however, does little to impress the JPY bulls.

The British Pound (GBP), on the other hand, struggles to attract any meaningful buyers in the face of the UK political turbulence and the underlying strong bullish sentiment surrounding the US Dollar (USD). This, in turn, might hold back traders from placing aggressive bullish bets around the GBP/JPY cross, warranting some caution before positioning for any meaningful appreciating move from a one-month trough, touched last week.