GPB/USD struggles near session lows, around 1.3500 mark on no-deal Brexit talks. Fading hopes for a last-minute Brexit deal prompted some aggressive selling around GBP/USD. A modest USD short-covering bounce contributed to the ongoing pullback from multi-year tops. The intraday selling around the British pound picked paced in the last hour and dragged the GBP/USD pair back below the key 1.3500 psychological mark, or fresh session lows. Having struggled to find acceptance above the 1.3600 mark on Thursday, the pair witnessed some long-unwinding trade on the last day of the week amid a flurry of Brexit-related headlines. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suppressed hopes for a last-minute Brexit deal and said that the most likely outcome was for the UK to leave the EU without a deal. EUR/USD holds steady near 1.2250-60 region, just below multi-year tops. EUR/USD edged lower on Friday amid a modest USD short-covering bounce. The shared currency remained well supported by the incoming positive data. The German IFO Business Climate rose to 92.1 in December vs 90 expected. The EUR/USD pair traded with a mild negative bias through the early European session, albeit has managed to recover a major part of its intraday downtick. The pair was last seen trading around the 1.2255-60 region, just a few pips away from 32-month tops set on Thursday.  The pair witnessed some profit-taking on the last trading day of the week and was pressured by a modest US dollar short-covering bounce amid the underlying cautious mood around the equity markets. The US congressional negotiators still haven’t yet agreed on a new coronavirus-relief package and tempered the recent optimism. The dollar edged higher Friday, rebounded to a degree after recent sharp selling, but this safe haven remains largely friendless as risk appetite grows. The dollar index was up 0.1% at 89.820, just above the 2-1/2-year low hit on Thursday. The index is down 1.2% for the week so far, on course for its worst week in a month, and has fallen 6.5% this year to date. USD/JPY rose 0.2% to 103.35, after falling as far as 102.88 Thursday, with the Bank of Japan keeping its key interest rates and asset purchases unchanged, and extending its special support programs for pandemic-hit businesses by six months. The risk-sensitive AUD/USD was down 0.2% at 0.7608, yet is on course for its seventh consecutive weekly gain.