USD/JPY climbs to one-week tops and retreats, up little around 105.40 area

• USD/JPY turned positive for the fourth consecutive session and shot to fresh one-week tops.
• Coronavirus jitters, worries of an economic slowdown continued benefitting the greenback.
• The risk-off mood underpinned the safe-haven JPY and capped any further gains for the pair.

The USD/JPY pair edged higher during the early North American session and was last seen trading near the 105.40 region, just below one-week tops set earlier this Thursday.

The pair attracted some dip-buying near the 105.20 area and moved into the positive territory for the fourth consecutive session amid sustained US dollar buying interest. Growing fears about an economic slowdown amid the ever-increasing coronavirus cases continued boosting the greenback’s status as the global reserve currency.

The market worries were further fueled by Thursday’s release of the US Initial Weekly Jobless Claims. According to the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL), 870K Americans filed unemployment-related benefits during the week ended on September 19th as against 866K previous (revised higher from 860K) and 843K expected.

However, the prevalent risk-off environment – as depicted by indications of a weaker opening in the US equity markets – extended some support to the safe-haven Japanese yen. This coupled with a fresh leg down in the US Treasury bond yields kept a lid on any strong gains for the USD/JPY pair, at least for the time being.

Thursday’s US economic docket also features the release of New Home Sales data. Adding to this, a scheduled testimony by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will influence the USD price dynamics. This, along with the broader market risk sentiment will assist traders to grab some meaningful opportunities.

Technical levels to watch