FOREX TODAY: QUIET START TO BIG CENTRAL BANK WEEK

GBP/USD struggled to make a decisive move in either direction ahead of the weekend and ended the week flat below 1.2400. In the early European session, the pair extends its sideways grind. While speaking on Friday, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said that the best tax cut would be a "cut in inflation."

USD/JPY fell sharply toward 129.00 during the Asian trading hours on Monday before recovering to the 129.50 area. Reuters reported earlier that a panel of academics and business executives urged the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to make its 2% inflation target a long-term goal. The proposal reportedly also included the need to have interest rates rise more in line with economic fundamentals and normalize Japan's bond market function. In the meantime, “I believe it's possible to achieve 2% inflation target, accompanied by wage growth, by continuing current easy policy,” BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated earlier in the day.

Gold price staged a downward correction and erased its weekly gains in the second half of the week. At the time of press, XAU/USD was posting small daily gains at around $1,930.

Following a three-day consolidation phase, Bitcoin gained traction and advanced toward $24,000 on Sunday. As of writing, BTC/USD was moving sideways near $23,700. Ethereum rose nearly 5% on Sunday and ended up posting small weekly gains. ETH/USD seems to have gone under modest bearish pressure early Monday and was last seen losing nearly 1% on the day at $1,630.