USD/JPY sticks with the push and pull mood on the week

The price action in the pair has been rather up and down on the week, with levels now returning back to the weekly pivot around 154.21. Earlier in the day, USD/JPY was trading around 155.15 in the handover from Asia to Europe. So, we’re roughly 100 pips down from there currently.

There’s no real catalyst in terms of headlines as traders are still trying to weather the post-election momentum this week. The dollar perked up again yesterday but failed to really secure any major technical breaks, so it’s not leading to much of anything on the week itself.

In the case of USD/JPY, we’re moving back to familiar levels seen earlier in the week but also keeping within the range seen during last week as well. From the daily chart, there’s not too much to scrutinise as the pair is doing battle in and around the 155.00 mark for now.

However, the near-term chart above might offer a hint for traders to work with. There is the crossover of the 100-hour moving average (red line) back under the 200-hour moving average (blue line). It’s not much but it could be a signal that price momentum is starting to shift the other way.

For now, lower Treasury yields is also helping to pin down the pair with 10-year yields down nearly 2 bps to 4.39%.

But again, I’d be more willing to want to see the dollar lose pace against the other major currencies to really call for any material turnaround in sentiment for the greenback.

As things stand, the dollar is still sitting decently comfortable elsewhere. EUR/USD is down 0.2% today to 1.0525 while GBP/USD is down 0.2% to 1.2630 currently. Both are also lingering near the lows.

That suggests the dollar is keeping more mixed as it seen down slightly against the franc and aussie for now. In terms of risk flows, there might be some suggestion of softer sentiment with S&P 500 futures now down 0.4%. That is largely led by a drop in tech shares after investors are feeling disappointed by Nvidia’s earnings overview.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.