USD/JPY: Yen slips as BOJ JGBs buying steady, eyes 200-DMA

• Yen weaker in Asia
• 200-DMA of 111.80 back in sight.
• US PPI, jobless claims and Fedspeak – Key.

The USD/JPY pair broke its bearish consolidation phase to the upside in Asia, now attempting the recovery gains above the midpoint of the 111 handle, as the bulls look to regain the 200-DMA resistance located at 111.80.

USD/JPY: Will it hold the recovery mode?

The Yen reverses a minor portion of the recent rally against its American rival, triggered by the BoJ’s surprise reduction in its JGBs purchases on Tuesday. The spot found fresh bids near 111.30 levels and recovered nearly 30-pips on expectations that the BoJ would make no tweaks to JGB 10-year buys, which got confirmed after the Japanese central bank left the JGBs purchases unchanged in today’s operations.

However, further upside attempts appear to lack follow-through, as the US dollar remains on the back foot across the board, despite higher Treasury yields, with the Chinese headlines, citing that the Chinese authorities recommend a reduction in the purchase of American treasury bills, weighing down on the sentiment around the buck.

Looking ahead, the pair will take cues from the USD dynamics, Treasury yields price-action and risk trends ahead of the key US PPI release.

USD/JPY Technical View

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, wrote: “The 4 hours chart shows that the pair is still biased lower, as it stands well below its 100 and 200 SMA, both lacking directional strength, while technical indicators hold within the oversold territory, losing their downward momentum but far from supporting additional gains ahead. The pair can gain some traction upwards above 111.60 while selling interest will probably resurge on an approach to the 112.00 figure. Support levels: 111.20 110.85 110.50. Resistance levels: 111.60 112.00 112.40.”