Barclays Share Price Focus: Profit-Taking and CEO Replacement Likely to Limit Gains

Barclays share price started the week on a low, trading at 191.44p. That was 0,46% lower than its position on Friday. The shares closed trading on Friday with a small gain of 0.46%, as it struggled to reverse Thursday’s substantial losses. After opening the day at 200.96p, Barclays (LSE:BARC) went on to shed 4% of its value in a single day to register 192.5p on Thursday. That was the second-highest single day loss since January 25th. After growing by an impressive 6% in October, Barclays shares should ideally be on a long-term uptrend. This is especially after beating expectations in its October 21st Q3 earnings report.  

The departure of CEO will ultimately be felt

The departure of CEO Jes Staley could have dented some investors’ hopes over the bank’s long-term growth. However, based on the fact that the shares only slipped 2.3% within 48 hours of the announcement, some may be quick to dismiss the impact of his departure.  That might have been true, if Barclays was in the red. But it is a wrong assessment for a CEO who has just navigated a company through a tumultuous pandemic-riddled market to return a third successive quarter of profitability.

Barclays had evidently planned well for a potential CEO resignation. The bank’s head of global markets, C.S. Venkatakrishnan is lined up to take over from Staley and he is considered a safe pair of hands. Nonetheless, investors will be happy to take in some profits as they wait for the unassured profits under the new CEO. That is likely to be the biggest impediment for Barclays shares in the short-term.  

Technical analysis for Barclays share price

Barclays share price has recently lost buyer momentum. The RSI has fallen from 63 to the current 43 in just 10 days.  The 10-EMA is also about to cross the 20-EMA to the downward direction.  These signal that further losses are highly likely. In that case, the first support is likely to be at 187.72p and the second one at 183.74p. Gains look unlikely, but if the price heads up, it could encounter the first resistance at 194.58p and the second one at 197.74p.

Barclays share price daily chart