“¢ Already strong USD gets an additional boost after today’s mixed US data.
“¢ Risk-on mood weighing on JPY’s safe-haven appeal and remains supportive.
The USD/JPY pair built on its goodish intraday up-move and is now looking to build on its momentum beyond the 113.00 handle post-US economic data.
The already stronger US Dollar got an additional boost after the final US GDP print showed that the economic growth during the second quarter of 2018 stood at 4.2% annualized rate. Adding to this, durable goods orders surpassed even the most optimistic estimates and recorded a strong growth of 4.5% m/m in August.
The upbeat readings largely offset a slight disappointment from core durable goods figures and a larger than expected rise in the initial weekly jobless claims. Bullish traders even shrugged off an unexpected rise in the good trade balance data, which came in to show a deficit of $75.83 billion as compared to $70.60 billion expected and $72.05 billion previous.
Meanwhile, a goodish rebound across European bourses and indications of a positive opening in the US equity markets dented the Japanese Yen’s safe-haven status and remained supportive of the pair’s strong up-move, back closer to over two-month tops touched in the aftermath of the latest FOMC decision.
Technical levels to watch
Immediate resistance is pegged near the 113.15-20 region and is closely followed by YTD tops, around the 113.35-40 region, above which the pair seems all set to aim towards testing the 114.00 handle.
On the flip side, the 112.75-70 region now becomes an immediate support to defend, which if broken might turn the pair vulnerable to break below the 112.50-40 intermediate support and test the 112.00 handle.
Share
