Pound Advances Amid Risk Appetite, May's Remarks

The pound strengthened against its major counterparts in the European session on Friday, as European shares rose after a slew of upbeat earnings reports and on optimism about the prospects for U.S. tax reforms, while data showed the U.K. budget deficit narrowed to a 10-year low in September.

The U.S. Senate adopted a $4 trillion fiscal 2018 budget resolution on Thursday, a step forward towards overhauling the U.S. tax code.

Investors cheered U.K. PM Theresa May's remarks at the EU summit, where she sounded positive and optimistic about the Brexit negotiations.

May said the government is ready to go through the financial contribution proposals "line by line".

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK budget deficit declined in September.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, decreased by GBP 0.7 billion from the previous year to GBP 5.9 billion in September. This was the lowest September net borrowing since 2007.

During April to September period, PSNB decreased by GBP 2.5 billion to GBP 32.5 billion, which was the lowest year-to-date net borrowing since 2007.

The pound showed mixed performance in the Asian session. While the currency rose against the franc and the yen, it fell against the greenback and the euro.

The pound edged up to 149.30 against the yen, off early low of 147.99. Continuation of the pound's uptrend may see it challenging resistance around the 151.00 level.

The Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that the Japan economy has been well-balanced by both external and domestic demand.

The governor said the sustainability of the expansion is high.

Having fallen to an 11-day low of 1.3088 against the greenback at 1:20 am ET, the pound reversed direction and advanced to 1.3180. If the pound rises further, 1.33 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

The pound advanced to 1.2952 against the Swiss franc and 0.8955 against the euro, from its previous 8-day lows of 1.2828 and 0.9022, respectively. On the upside, 1.31 and 0.88 are likely seen as the next resistance levels for the pound against the franc and the euro,respectively.

Looking ahead, Canada inflation for September and retail sales for August are set for release in the New York session.