• GBP/USD attracts fresh sellers on Friday, though the downside remains cushioned.
• Traders now seem reluctant to place aggressive directional bets ahead of the US PCE.
• The technical setup suggests that the path of least resistance remains to the downside.

The GBP/USD pair extends the overnight late pullback from the 1.2670 region and trades with a mild negative bias during the Asian session on Friday. Spot prices currently hover around the 1.2635-1.2630 area and remain well within the striking distance of the lowest level since mid-May touched on Thursday.

The British Pound (GBP) continues to be undermined by rising bets for a rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE) in August. Apart from this, some repositioning trade ahead of the crucial US inflation data lifts the US Dollar (USD) to a fresh two-month high, which, in turn, is seen as another factor exerting some downward pressure on the GBP/USD pair. That said, the uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's (Fed) rate-cut path keeps a lid on any further gains for the buck and helps limit the downside for the currency pair. 

From a technical perspective, the emergence of fresh selling and acceptance below the 1.2650-1.2645 confluence – comprising 50-day and 100-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) – favors bearish traders. Moreover, oscillators on the daily chart have been gaining negative traction and suggest that the path of least resistance for the GBP/USD pair is to the downside. That said, any subsequent slide is likely to find some support near the weekly low, around the 1.2615-1.2610 area, ahead of the 1.2600 mark, which if broken will set the stage for deeper losses.