Japanese Yen Flat Lines Against USD, Seems Vulnerable Near Multi-Decade Low -

Japanese Yen Flat Lines Against USD, Seems Vulnerable Near Multi-Decade Low

Apr 02, 2024Jeremy ParkinsonFinance0

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The Japanese Yen struggles to capitalize on the overnight modest uptick against the USD.

The BoJ’s dovish stance undermines the JPY, though intervention fears limit the downside.

Reduced bets for a June Fed rate cut should lend support to the Greenback and USD/JPY.

The Japanese Yen (JPY) seesaws between tepid gains/minor losses against its American counterpart during the Asian session on Wednesday and remains confined in a familiar range held over the past two weeks or so. The possibility of intervention by Japanese authorities to prevent a destabilizing fall in the domestic currency, along with a generally weaker sentiment around the equity markets, lends some support to the safe-haven JPY. That said, the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) dovish language, signaling that the next rate hike will be some time away, fails to assist the JPY in attracting any meaningful buyers. The US Dollar (USD), on the other hand, remains under some selling pressure for the second successive day and contributes to the USD/JPY pair’s subdued price action. Meanwhile, the markets have been trimming their bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut interest rates in June. This keeps the US Treasury bond yields elevated and favours the USD bulls. This, along with expectations that the gap between US and Japanese interest rates will stay wide, suggests that the path of least resistance for the currency pair is to the upside and supports prospects for an eventual breakout through a short-term range.

Daily Digest Market Movers: Japanese Yen continues to be undermined by BoJ’s cautious outlook

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki repeated his warning that authorities were ready to take appropriate action against excessive exchange-rate volatility and offered some support to the Japanese Yen.

The uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s plans to cut interest rates, along with persistent geopolitical risks, tempers investors’ appetite for riskier assets and further benefits the JPY’s relative safe-haven status.

The Bank of Japan struck a dovish tone at the end of the March meeting and stopped short of offering any guidance about future policy steps, or the pace of policy normalization, which caps gains for the JPY.

Odds of a June Fed rate cut dip below 50% after data released this week showed that the US manufacturing sector expanded in March for the first time since September 2022 and that demand for labor remains elevated.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday that the number of job openings on the last business day of February stood at 8.75 million.

A separate report by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau showed that new orders for US-manufactured goods rebounded more than expected, by 1.4% in February following a 3.8% drop in the previous month.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said on Tuesday that inflation is gradually decreasing, though the process is erratic and gradual, and that maintaining the status quo is the appropriate policy at present.

Adding to this, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester expects the central bank to cut rates later this year, though noted that moving rates down too soon would risk undoing the progress made on inflation.

This comes on the back of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Friday, saying that there was no need to be in a hurry to cut interest rates and raised doubts if the central bank will cut rates three times this year.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond advanced to a four-month high, helping the US Dollar to stall the overnight pullback from a multi-month top and acting as a tailwind for the USD/JPY pair.

Technical Analysis: USD/JPY consolidates before the next leg up, move beyond 152.00 mark awaited
From a technical perspective, the range-bound price action witnessed over the past two weeks or so might still be categorized as a bullish consolidation phase against the backdrop of a strong rally from the March swing low. Moreover, oscillators on the daily chart are holding in the positive territory and are still far from being in the overbought zone. This, in turn, suggests that the path of least resistance for the USD/JPY pair is to the upside. That said, bulls might need a sustained breakout through the trading range resistance, around the 152.00 mark, or a multi-decade high before positioning for any further appreciating move.On the flip side, the lower end of the aforementioned trading range, around the 151.10-151.00 area, is likely to protect the immediate downside. Some follow-through selling below the 150.85-150.80 horizontal resistance breakpoint, now turned support, could expose the next relevant support near the 150.25 area. This is closely followed by the 150.00 psychological mark, which if broken decisively might turn the USD/JPY pair vulnerable to accelerate the corrective decline further towards the 149.35-149.30 region before eventually dropping to the 149.00 mark.More By This Author:Swiss Franc Trades Mixed In Key Pairs, Highlighting Passive-Partner Role
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