EUR/GBP pares modest intraday gains, up a little around 0.8780 region post-ECB

• EUR/GBP surrenders a major part of its intraday gains to levels just above the 0.8800 mark.
• The ECB lifts its benchmark rates by 50 bps, though fails to provide any meaningful impetus.
• Traders now look to the post-meeting press conference before placing fresh directional bets.

The EUR/GBP cross struggles to capitalize on its strong intraday gains beyond the 0.8800 mark and retreats a few pips from the daily top touched during the mid-European session. The cross moves little after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its policy decision and currently trades around the 0.8780 region, up less than 0.10% for the day.

The ECB  raised its key rates by 50 bps at the end of the March policy meeting, lifting the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility to 3.5%, 3.75% and 3%, respectively. In the accompanying policy statement, the central bank noted: "elevated level of uncertainty reinforces importance of a data-dependent approach to ECB’s policy rate decisions, which will be determined by its assessment of inflation outlook in light of incoming economic and financial data, dynamics of underlying inflation, and strength of monetary policy transmission."

In the absence of any major surprises, either dovish or hawkish, the decision fails to provide any meaningful impetus to the shared currency or the EUR/GBP cross. Traders also seem reluctant and prefer to wait for ECB President Christine Lagarde's post-meeting press conference, for cues about the future rate-hike path, before placing fresh directional bets. In the meantime, growing acceptance that the Bank of England (BoE) will pause its rate-hiking cycle next week continue to undermine the British Pound and assist the cross to hold above the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) support.

Technical levels to watch