For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the USD declined 0.27% against the JPY and closed at 108.79.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 108.89, with the USD trading 0.09% higher against the JPY from yesterday’s close.
The Japanese Yen lost ground against the USD, after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) increased its buying of medium-term Japanese government bonds (JGBs).
Separately, according to the summary of opinions report from the BoJ’s January monetary policy meeting, several policymakers shared the view that the central bank needs to consider hiking interest rates or scale-back purchases of risky assets, if Japan’s economic fundamentals continue to recover. However, other board members believed that it was appropriate to stick to the central bank’s current accommodative policy as inflation remains far from its 2.0% target.
On the economic front, Japan’s preliminary industrial production advanced 2.7% on a monthly basis in December, compared to a gain of 0.5% in the prior month. Market anticipation was for industrial production to increase 1.5%.
The pair is expected to find support at 108.51, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 108.13. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 109.18, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 109.47.
Moving ahead, Japan’s final Nikkei manufacturing PMI for January, slated to release overnight, will be on investors’ radar.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr moving average and showing convergence with its 50 Hr moving average.
