• GBP/USD eases below 1.3350 on Monday, following a seven-day rally.
• Fresh tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have soured market sentiment in an otherwise calm start of the week.
• The pair remains trading within a descending channel.

The British Pound (GBP) ticks lower against the  US Dollar (USD) Monday, attempting to close a seven-day rally, as tensions rise again in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the critical points in the peace process between Washington and Tehran. The GBP/USD pair trades near 1.3340 at the time of writing, down from 1.3387 highs last week, although it maintains a near-term bullish trend intact.

The United Command of Iran’s Armed Forces affirmed in local media that any vessel not following the designated route to cross the key waterway will endanger its security and that US interference in the Strait will be decisively responded to. These threats come after Iran’s ambassador in China, Rahmani Fazli, reaffirmed Tehran’s will to collect fees to vessels crossing Hormuz, in a conference in Beijing last weekend, an idea plainly rejected by the US.

In the macroeconomic calendar, June's S&P Global Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) will be the only event worth mentioning in the UK calendar. In the US, the ISM Services PMI report and the Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Christopher Waller’s comments are likely to drive the US Dollar later in the day.

Technical Analysis: Pound bulls hit resistance at the channel's top

GBP/USD trades at 1.3340, keeping a near-term positive bias, although failure to breach the 1.3385 area keeps the broader bearish structure in place. Momentum indicators show easing bullish pressure with the Relative Strength drifting towards the 50 midline and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line crossing below the Signal line, which is a bearish move.

Bulls have been halted at the trendline resistance from late May highs, which meets the price near the June 12 and 16 lows and a few pips below the key 200-day SMA, which lies around 1.3400. This resistance should give way to confirm a trend shift, and set sail for the June 15 high, at 1.3460, and the May 25 and 26 highs, right above the 1.3500 level.

On the downside, Thursday's low, at 1.3268, is likely to provide support ahead of the June 24 low, at 1.3140, and the bottom of the mentioned channel, now around 1.3110.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)