The Japanese Yen (JPY) remains on the front foot against a broadly retreating US Dollar (USD) and drags the USD/JPY pair to the 145.00 psychological mark during the first half of the European session on Friday. The upbeat Household Spending data from Japan boosts the case for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan (BoJ). Moreover, reviving safe-haven demand, amid persistently rising geopolitical risks, assists the JPY to stage a modest recovery from a four-week low touched against its American counterpart released earlier today.
Meanwhile, the US-UK trade deal on Thursday raised hopes for more such deals with other countries. Adding to this, the optimism over the start of US-China tariff negotiations in Switzerland on Sunday remains supportive of a generally positive risk tone, which might cap the JPY. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish pause and easing US recession fears should limit the downside for the USD. This warrants caution before confirming that the USD/JPY pair's recent recovery from a multi-month low has run out of steam.
From a technical perspective, the USD/JPY pair's overnight breakout through the 200-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) on the 4-hour chart could be seen as a key trigger for bullish traders. Moreover, oscillators on the daily chart have started gaining positive traction and are holding in bullish territory on hourly charts. This supports prospects for the emergence of some dip-buyers at lower levels, which should limit the downside for spot prices near the 145.00 psychological mark (200-period SMA on the 4-hour chart). That said, a convincing break below the said resistance-turned-support might prompt some technical selling and drag the currency pair to the next relevant support near the 144.45 region.
Meanwhile, bulls might now wait for a sustained move and acceptance above the 146.00 round figure before placing fresh bets. Some follow-through buying beyond the Asian session peak, around the 146.15-146.20 region, will reaffirm the near-term positive outlook and pave the way for a further near-term appreciating move for the USD/JPY pair. The subsequent move up could lift spot prices to an intermediate hurdle near the 146.75-146.80 region en route to the 147.00 mark. The momentum could extend further towards the 147.70 horizontal resistance before the pair aims to conquer the 148.00 round figure and climb further towards the 148.25-148.30 supply zone.
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the New Zealand Dollar.
USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USD | -0.16% | -0.07% | -0.41% | -0.05% | -0.01% | 0.22% | -0.15% | |
EUR | 0.16% | 0.07% | -0.26% | 0.09% | 0.15% | 0.36% | -0.00% | |
GBP | 0.07% | -0.07% | -0.33% | 0.03% | 0.08% | 0.29% | -0.04% | |
JPY | 0.41% | 0.26% | 0.33% | 0.39% | 0.43% | 0.64% | 0.31% | |
CAD | 0.05% | -0.09% | -0.03% | -0.39% | 0.04% | 0.27% | -0.07% | |
AUD | 0.00% | -0.15% | -0.08% | -0.43% | -0.04% | 0.21% | -0.12% | |
NZD | -0.22% | -0.36% | -0.29% | -0.64% | -0.27% | -0.21% | -0.34% | |
CHF | 0.15% | 0.00% | 0.04% | -0.31% | 0.07% | 0.12% | 0.34% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
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