GBP/USD ticks higher after uninspiring headline NFP

   •  Headline NFP print falls short of expectations and extended little support to the USD.
   •  GBP traders seemed uninspired and seemed to wait for next week’s BoE decision.

The GBP/USD pair extended its modest recovery move from the very important 200-day SMA and refreshed session tops the US employment figures, albeit lacked strong follow-through.

The latest US monthly jobs report revealed that the economy added 164K new jobs during the month of April and the unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.9%. The headline NFP print was below consensus estimates pointing to a reading of 192K jobs but was still far better than previous month's reading of 103K new jobs and thus, did little to prompt any aggressive US Dollar selling. 

The pair moved high but remained below the 1.3600 handle as investors seemed reluctant to place any aggressive bets and preferred to wait on the sideline ahead of the BoE's Super Thursday next week before positioning for the next leg of directional move. 

With today's key US macro data out of the way, traders now look forward to the New York Fed President William Dudley's scheduled speech for some short-term trading opportunities on the last day of the week.

Technical levels to watch

On the upside, the 1.3600 handle might continue to hinder immediate downside and is followed by resistance near the 1.3630 region, above which a bout of short-covering might continue to lift the pair further towards reclaiming the 1.3700 handle.

Meanwhile, bulls might continue to defend the 1.3535 support (200-day SMA), which if broken should now turn the pair vulnerable to extend its bearish slide further towards YTD lows around the 1.3460-55 region.