USD/JPY consolidates in a range, just below 107.00 handle

• The USD remains well supported by Friday’s upbeat comments by Powell.
• Bulls seemed unimpressed by fading safe-haven demand amid risk-on mood.
• Monday’s mostly in line Japanese GDP print does little to provide any impetus.

The USD/JPY pair consolidated in a range through the Asian session on Monday and remained well within Friday’s broader trading range, around the 107.00 handle.
 
The pair on Friday had some good two-way moves and was solely influenced by the US Dollar price dynamics, which lost some ground following the release of softer headline NFP print. The latest US monthly jobs report showed that the US economy added 130K new jobs in August as compared to 158K expected and overshadowed upbeat wage growth data.

Bulls failed to capitalize on Friday’s late uptick

The greenback, however, managed to regain some positive traction in reaction to not so dovish comments by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell. During a discussion in Zurich, Powell dismissed fears of an imminent recession, saying that the outlook of the US economy continues to be a favourable one, and helped the pair to rebound around 30-pips from daily lows.
 
The pair, however, failed to capitalize on the uptick and oscillated in a narrow trading band through the Asian session on Monday. Meanwhile, today’s release of mostly in line Japanese GDP growth figures did little to provide any meaningful impetus, though the prevalent risk-on mood undermined the Japanese Yen’s safe-haven demand and extended some support.
 
It will now be interesting to see if the pair is able to attract any meaningful buying interest or continues with its subdued/range-bound price action amid absent relevant market moving economic releases from the US and ahead of the next big event risk – the latest FOMC monetary policy meeting on September 17-18.

Technical levels to watch