USD/JPY turns negative for second straight session, defies fresh USD strength

   “¢   A goodish pickup in the USD demand offset by retracing US bond yields.
   “¢   Kuroda’s comments provide an additional boost to the Japanese Yen.
   “¢   Traders now eye US macroeconomic releases ahead of Powell’s speech.

After an initial uptick to 112.90 level, the USD/JPY pair met with some fresh supply and has now drifted into negative territory for the second straight session.

The pair extended its post-FOMC retracement slide from over two-month tops, levels beyond the 113.00 handle, and seemed rather unaffected by a goodish pickup in the US Dollar demand.

Bearish traders seemed to track the ongoing fall in the US Treasury bond yields, which along with comments by BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, expecting inflation to rise towards 2% target, exerted some additional downward pressure.

However, signs of stability in equity markets, as depicted by a mildly positive opening across European bourses, weighed on the Japanese Yen’s safe-haven status and helped limit deeper losses, at least for the time being.

Moving ahead, today’s key focus will be on the US macroeconomic data – the final Q2 GDP growth figures and durable goods orders, which should influence the price dynamics ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech during the early Asian session on Friday.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near the 112.60-55 region, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the fall further towards testing the 112.00 round figure mark. On the flip side, the 112.90-113.00 region might continue to act as a key hurdle, which if cleared should pave the way for an extension of the pair’s recent bullish momentum.